That Fleeting Object Of Desire
by shattershell
Summary: AU set when Ash was still in Alola. So, a lot of people are in love with Ash, including most of his female companions. He has a very important decision to make and doesn't know what to do about it. Don't know if this classifies as a harem story, but maybe it does. Too many pairings to mention. Ash Ketchum, Pikachu, Misty, May, Dawn, Serena, Mallow, Lillie, Lana, Iris, and more.
1. Unexpected Developments

**Hey, so, I've had this idea for a while now, thanks for checking it out. I just wanted to point out that this is quite different from my other story, this one is a bit more gloomy and serious, and has some angst, predominantly in the beginning. That changes, but I guess I do mean for it to have some hurt/comfort moments, although nothing too hard. Anyway, again thanks for reading.**

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It all began when our hero overslept, right on that fateful day, when he thought he had been deprived of a starter pokemon by his excess of sleep. Of course, he soon learned he was wrong for thinking this way, seeing as he ended up obtaining a life-long friend full of energy and willpower, just like himself.

And from then on, many unforgettable moments and countless adventures had ensued. From staying on his bed for far too long one morning he had gone on to defeat myriads of powerful villains and experienced opponents alike, had rescued friends and family members from cosmically misunderstood enemies, had gone on to, not only encounter elusive creatures of myth and legend, on lands shrouded in danger and mystery, but he had also saved their lives, each time with a glorious display of courage and determination. As such, he had gained the favor of grandiose beings with a heightened reach of their majestic powers.

But his motivation wasn't the glory, neither the fame to be obtained, from accomplishing such unimaginable feats. He was in it for all the experience that would be gained exploring such an interesting world, for his innate desire for constant improvement, and for the memories that he would undoubtedly make and then treasure for the rest of his life.

So, it was obvious that just one adventure of mythical proportions wouldn't be enough for him. A hundred adventures filled with mortal risks wouldn't be enough for him, as long as he could embark on yet another one. From playing with toys and watching tv on his room, on Pallet Town, on the Kanto Region, he had gone all the way to the other side of the world, to helping inter-dimensional beings of great power return to their world of origin, on a tropical island, on the Alola Region, always with his trusty best friend Pikachu by his side.

His name was Ash Ketchum, and he was a very confident young man full of life. This by itself made him very attractive to his peers. And his pleasant looks were augmented abundantly by the irresistible energy that radiated from him at all times, even when he was asleep. Regardless of how aware they were of it, everyone on Ash's circle of friends was attracted to him in one way or another. And in some cases, the attraction they felt toward him, and the esteem that they had for him, slowly mutated into an infatuation of a most romantic kind. Such phenomenon had in fact happened quite a few times already, without him ever knowing or finding out about it. And every time such a thing happened, it always ended inconspicuously, with a fruitless resolution.

The objective feelings of love had appeared mostly on his female friends, whom he had met on the many regions he had previously visited, and whom he had left behind, but never forgotten.

However, in this particular moment of his journey, as Ash settled into his frantic everyday life in the Alola Region, peculiar developments began to complicate his relationships, in a way that ultimately made a simple, neutral resolution like all the others beforehand, thoroughly impossible. Three of his friends, who were in fact the closest female friends he had made while in Alola, found themselves to be in love with our hero at the very same time. These three girls freshly in love were the warm and attentive Mallow, who was a chef-in-training as well as the only one of them who was taller than Ash, the quietly playful Lana, lover of the sea, phlegmatic in nature, and the sensibly introverted Lillie, whose frightful nature made her seem distant, and, therefore, it was understandable that she hid her desire for a warm friendship from even her closest companions. And what made the situation especially difficult was that, because of their own feelings, each other became aware of the feelings of one another, and this elevated the tensions of every day to extremely uncomfortable levels and, not only that, it threatened the friendship of the group like nothing else that had come before it.

Of course, the three of them were well-mannered, non-confrontational people who would do anything to hold on to their friendship and, most of all, to remain amiable towards each other and towards everyone else. However, even so, some spite, and the tiniest little bit of discomfort brought about by the existence of their feelings in the same space as those of the others, began to seep in to the surface.

What none of them knew, not even their male friends, was that Ash Ketchum, like never before, was aware of the feelings his friends had developed for him. He was naturally in tune with the spirits of the people around him, yes; very much so. However, in order for him to be able to sense correctly the feelings of his friends, he himself had to have experienced those same feelings; he needed to have something to compare them to. Because of this, he had never before noticed when someone had been in love with him. He only began to notice this when his capacity to fall in love began to develop within him. It was bound to happen one day, it was naturally unavoidable. And it was quite unfortunate for him that it had happened when not one, not two, but three of his friends were in love with him, at the same time. Right when he had just learned what being in love felt like. And he was the kind of guy who could feel so much so as to become fully consumed by his feelings, overwhelmed by them in fact; completely neutralized. Indeed, he was in love with all of them, at the same time.

He liked Mallow, and he liked Lana, and he liked Lillie, and he had no idea which of them he liked the most.

Ash started shying away from his friends, from all of them. He'd sneak away from everyone whenever he could, because he couldn't deal with his newly found feelings. It was too much for him. Only Pikachu could witness his episodes of uncontrollable rage in the woods, and the passionate cries to the skies that each episode contained. He thought he'd never been more fortunate than when he was blind to his feelings of love, and to those of the ones around him. Ignorance truly was bliss, and now the truth had caged him in misery and constant suffering, away from his loved ones to boot.

But that couldn't last. As much as he was being consumed by his feelings, were Mallow, Lillie and Lana. Their agonizing insides were ready to burst, and each of them was wary of the other's situation, as well as their intentions. Each of them, Mallow, Lillie, and Lana, had grown enough, and had enough respect for themselves to act as their hearts dictated. Each of them thought of themselves as worthy enough to try and claim the object of their most fervent desires, as their own.

One night, they laid their most alert eyes on Ash, and successfully tracked him all the way to his place of solitude in the woods. There was no other way but to subject him to a most difficult and painful decision, because things simply couldn't continue like that. Everybody was dying slowly, and only one of them could be saved. The rest would take being killed mercifully over their current situation.

He understood what was going on immediately. They quickly surrounded him in a perfect circle, each girl the same distance apart from each other. Ash turned his head to look at each of them, and then he turned his whole body. He had to, so he could look at them right. He couldn't help but stare at them repeatedly. There was Lana, the shorter one of the trio, also the only one with short hair. She had her head down, but she was softly determined, willing to at least give it a try. Then there was Lillie, standing straight, dignified just like her mother had taught her. But her eyes couldn't hide the anger she felt towards Ash, because of his innocent silence and his reluctance to confront them. And lastly there was Mallow, guarding herself from the asphyxiating atmosphere by holding her right arm with her left hand. She was the most open, therefore the most vulnerable. With her body, and her eyes, she pleaded to Ash to release her, to pick anyone. And at the same time she yearned for her victory, and her desires were displayed out in the open, against her wishes, in her semblance.

Right then, Ash realized he truly loved them all. If only he could go back to being emotionally blind; hating them all would be a far better alternative.

But there was no point in fantasizing about a time long gone. It was not the time nor the place, his mind was bothered enough as it was. Ash's judgment was clouded by all the agony he was in, and yet, the one thing he knew he absolutely couldn't do was pick one of them at random. Because he couldn't pick one of them rationally. At that moment there wasn't a rational thought in his brain, except, perhaps, that he loved all of them equally. That was the only certainty to which he could cling comfortably. He couldn't be so disrespectful towards them so as to pick one of them at random. Ash thought they didn't deserve that, but, past that, he had no idea of what those girls truly deserved. The night was long and they had the time, because a decision had to be made before the sun came up, in order for their lives to carry on.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. There is not a more poisonous bliss than that which comes with the postponement of a decision. But why do decisions have to be made in the first place? Is the exercising of our ability to decide, a right? An obligation? A privilege? An unavoidable burden? All of those and more? Or is it none of those? After all, the decision to be brought into existence wasn't made by any one of us. It was decided by someone else, in one way or another. No one was given the choice in that primordial decision. What's more, any conclusion to which we have arrived as a species, whether by rational thought or by sensory experience, even if it contains the most irrefutable evidence, can be taken apart until only a desolate doubt remains. There is not a certain thought in existence in which we can hide and rest peacefully. So why, oh why, must we then be forced to make decisions? Especially, if it can't ever be guaranteed that any decision made will be rightfully rewarded.

A strange sound interrupted the brooding atmosphere. It was an incessant buzz that increased slowly, then rapidly, until it became unbearable with its overwhelming resonance. It filled the group with fright before it attracted their eyes towards the nightmarish source. A purple cloud headed towards the silent group as the noise continued getting louder, making the ground tremble, in the same way it made the inside of their skulls tremble, just from the overwhelming buzzing. Next they were able to distinguish that the purple blur was made out of myriads of naganadel, all gathered in the giant swarm that was approaching them relentlessly. From where those flying creatures had come the group had no idea, but of what they were sure was that running away was the best choice to such a suddenly dangerous situation. A naganadel was a type of Ultra Beast, a creature that had come from another universe, through an inter-dimensional portal which was called an Ultra Wormhole. The naganadel were limber creatures with an insectoid frame, with a small head and a long, thin spike protruding from its very top, which was directed backwards. A light blue visor-like organ with a futuristic air, right on the upper front of its face, constituted its eyes. On the sides of its comparatively large mouth, seemingly stuck in a perpetual sardonic smile, two fang-like appendages protruded from its mouth and curved heading upward, manifesting its predatory nature. A long and thin purple neck led to a firm purple torso; behind it, a purple pair of wings covered in a hard, insect-like exoskeletal armor, which also covered the rest of its body. And by this point the humans were running fast, away from a myriad of them. To the sides of its torso, its shoulders with more fang-like appendages protruding one from either side; its arms were curiously thin, and looked like they could break easily; they ended in three claws on each arm which constituted its fingers. All naganadel had an oval-shaped bottom, slightly larger when compared to the creature's top. But what granted the creature its most threatening appearance, by far the most fatal weapons on the naganadel's arsenal, were the three spikes that came out from below its ovoid abdomen. A larger one on the middle, which resembled a giant hypodermic needle, and two smaller ones on the sides.

The group had no time to think about how unlikely that situation was, or about how unfortunate it was; how unfortunate they were, for being there at that unfortunate time. From then on it was all about running for their lives as the countless Ultra Beasts chased them through the woods. Their mutual friend Sophocles, a chubby redhead, appeared from the shadows completely aware of the situation. He arrived carrying a pink flare gun, which, as soon as the group reached him, he fired decisively at the densest part of the woods, and then he urged the group to run away to the opposite direction.

"That's not going to distract them for long!" he exclaimed.

"It has to be enough! This has to work!" Ash replied, before he made sure that the naganadel were in fact following the flare.

As they continued their escape, now with an established escape route, Mallow looked behind her and then stopped running entirely. Soon after Lana and Lillie looked back too, and then they stopped, along with Sophocles. Ash didn't have to stop, because he wasn't running with them. He and Pikachu stood still, waiting for them to leave, as the flare was consumed on the ground away from them, and the buzzing ameliorated slightly.

"What do you think you are doing?" Mallow asked, as she ran back towards him with the rest of them right behind her.

"There's no time for this, you need to leave, now!" Ash shouted. He was suddenly overwhelmed, and covered in sweat.

"You don't have to be a hero Ash!" Lana said. "Please, let's just run away."

"I can't, I'm serious. Leave now, I'll do whatever it takes."

"We can't let you do this," Lillie added.

"You must," Ash immediately replied with his fists raised to his chest. Behind him the flare went out, and the buzzing gradually increased in volume. "I'm the only one who has a pokemon with me, there's no time. There's nothing you can do!" he exclaimed. And this last remark made the girls feel extreme impotence as they stared at the ground. They knew he was right, just like they knew there was no escape. At least not without a sacrifice.

"This is the end for us Ash, at least let's see it through together," Lana said.

"Come on Lana! Ash has plenty of experience with Ultra Beasts," Sophocles replied.

"But nothing like this. There's too many of them!" Mallow exclaimed, then she cursed to herself, silently.

"I'm sorry," Ash finalized.

Right then Mallow rushed to Ash and hugged him, desperately, firmly, for a few crucial but still indulgent seconds. Then without looking at him she turned back and ran away. Sophocles followed her. Lana was the next one to leave, after sharing a fleeting look with Ash. And even though it only lasted a second, that intense look contained a whole life, in fact it was the life that could have been had the naganadel not appeared; had Ash chosen her. Then there was Lillie, who kept her feet firm on the ground as she stared right at Ash, with her eyes full of many different emotions, all of them as piercingly concentrated as they could be. With her eyes, she silently suggested she stayed with him, but Ash then nodded negatively, and, still silently, urged her to leave. Lillie still hesitated for a few critical seconds, but ultimately gave up and ran away, mainly because the thought of Ash disapproving her staying, and lamenting her senseless sacrifice, was too much for her. The buzzing became louder and then unbearable once more. Ash watched his friends run away and then disappear. Only then he turned back to look at the swarm of powerful creatures from another world approaching him. He stared at them dourly.

"Are you ready Pikachu?" he asked his pokemon next to him.

Pikachu nodded decisively.

Some time before that tragic night, Ash and Pikachu had befriended a poipole, a naganadel's previous stage. Consequently, Ash had also met a sober naganadel, and was even able to communicate with it. However, that night he didn't need to try to communicate with the swarm, Ash and Pikachu knew they would leave. The naganadel overwhelmed them completely, there was nothing to be done, and then the two of them were fully consumed by the purple cloud.

Ash and Pikachu took one last breath on Earth. Ash departed full of doubt.

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**Just want to point out that this is just the first chapter. I'll upload the second one next week, and I'll probably upload the third chapter of my other story tomorrow. I hope this was at least mildly entertaining, don't mean to ruffle any feathers or anything, with regards to the shipping, I mean. I pretty much like all of the characters, and even though I have my favorites I want to give each of the love interests the same amount of text. It's fine if you have your favorite too, and it is VERY important that you pick only one and hate everyone who doesn't pick the same one as you. Just kidding please don't hurt me, I just want to write something that's like a passable read. Anyway, again, thanks for reading.**


	2. Never Say Die

Ash was no longer on the face of the Earth.

He had done so much for so many people, for the world itself. And there was still so much left for him to do, a whole life to live, a genuinely special life, that had suddenly gone away. It was, beyond doubt, unacceptable.

The girl had to do something about it.

In her mind there was still something to do about it—about his death—and this was, perhaps, because Ash was everything to her. And who could blame her for feeling this way? Ash had been in her every thought ever since she met him, when they were both kids. She knew she was in love with him even before he had finished introducing himself. She had loved him ever since.

However, the girl, Serena, was in fact guilty for what she had done. She was in her home region of Kalos visiting her mother when she heard the news. She was taking a break from her training on the region of Hoenn, and it didn't take much time for her to decide that something needed to be done, to correct the situation.

That's right, Serena, by then a muddled mess of nerves wallowing in temporal insanity, proceeded to come up with a plan to bring Ash back to life. She worked day and night, she asked anyone who would listen to her for help. And when she came up with something, a plan, beyond reason—and yet carefully thought out—she resolved to see it through to its very end. And regardless of what that end turned out to be, Serena knew she would end up seeing Ash's face again, one way or another…

Two more women in mourning, both of whom deeply loved Ash Ketchum, arrived in Alola right after the tragic news reached them. They were Delia, Ash's mother, and Misty, his first traveling companion as well as the first real friend he had made. Misty was the one who taught Ash how to act like a decent human being; she had to deal with his most childish version, his volatile temper and his horrible manners. When Misty met Ash he was merely an insolent kid. When they parted ways he was still a kid, but he wasn't so feral anymore, and that was a crucial development for which Misty had to have been thanked by anyone who crossed paths with Ash after he left her. Of course, Ash's own mother had to be thanked much more, for his existence alone. The difference was stark. But on their immense sorrow after learning that Ash was gone, a comparison would be as difficult to be made as it would be out of place.

When Delia and Misty arrived in Alola, Serena had already stormed in and stolen Ash's clothes, along with the gravel they were covered in, which were all that remained of both Pikachu and him. So when the couple from Kanto met with the departed's alolan friends, the latter group were all filled with anguish and shame. And the shame increased, especially on Mallow, Lillie, Lana and Sophocles, to unbearable levels once they saw Ash's mom. They were speechless. They had just witnessed how Ash's remains were carefully placed inside a box, before Serena appeared out of nowhere and with the help of two meowstics, one male and one female, had stolen the box and run away.

They searched for her all around the island but found nothing. Both Serena and the box seemed to have instantly vanished. Her sudden appearance itself was hard to believe without the horrible and profane act she had committed.

They gathered on the beach after the exhaustive but unsuccessful search, as the sun came down and colored the whole scenery of a melancholic orange. Mallow was the only one who cried openly, kneeling down, with her face buried in her hands. She could sense the collective despair, and it was too much for her to bear. The sight of her was particularly hard to witness for Sophocles, who already felt guilty from the way it had gone down in the woods. Her abundant tears and disarming wailing were almost impossible for him to listen. He could only stand still and let her audible sorrow consume him.

Lillie and Lana seemed more calm. At least in Lana's case, she was still in shock, and the full weight of what had happened hadn't hit her yet. Perhaps it would only hit her in parts, in a way that would make the anguish easier to digest. But if that were the case then the overall grief would take longer to leave her. It was not a better alternative, just different.

Meanwhile for Lillie it was all about restraint, she would have more than enough time to cry in the darkness of her room.

When the sun came down there was only a very disheartening silence, and fatigue. Nobody knew what to do next. It was Misty who took charge of the situation. They needed a proper send off for their friend. Perhaps nobody ever talked about it, but everyone understood perfectly that Ash was a particularly dear friend, who meant a lot to a lot of people. And if they wanted to begin the process of letting go of him, they needed to at least say goodbye. They had to recover his remains and bring them back to Alola, or perhaps take them to Kanto. It didn't matter where the proper release happened, what mattered was that it had to happen. So they tracked Serena down. It was much easier to find her since she was still roaming the earth, unlike Ash. She was still breathing, and moving, and interacting with people. She was already on her way back to Kalos. They had to give her credit, a lot of it in fact. She was sneaky, efficient and resourceful.

"We have to intercept her," Misty said to the large group that had gathered.

"What do you mean by that?" Sophocles asked.

"She means we are going to Kalos right now," Delia replied decisively.

"Right now?" Sophocles asked again, rather hesitantly.

Lillie on the other hand was completely in tune with the women from Kanto. She was incensed, and overcome with quiet rage for what Serena had done. And even though she wouldn't have said anything to anyone about it, she was beyond pleased that Misty was speaking for her.

"I'm coming with you," she did say firmly.

"Me too!" Lana suddenly added.

"Why does it matter?" Mallow whispered to herself, although everyone heard it. The atmosphere was low enough in order for her faint voice to be heard clearly. "Ash is gone, and he's never coming back," she said, still kneeling on the ground.

"Serena took all that's left of him," Misty said.

"I bought that hat for him myself," Delia added. "We should have a chance to say goodbye to him."

"We are going," Lana said directly to Mallow. "Are you coming with us or not?"

Mallow raised her head, her tears were still fresh on her cheeks. She looked at the four women, who were staring back at her suddenly filled with resolve. Slowly, after some pondering, Mallow nodded. That same night they took the last flight to Kalos. It was Misty and Delia, Mallow, Lana and Lillie, and Sophocles, who decided to go…

The next day Serena was back in Kalos. She carried the special cargo on a backpack tight on her back. Still absolutely determined, she headed to Anistar City, by the sea. There the local Gym Leader Olympia, a clairvoyant and psychic specialist, waited for her by the giant crimson sundial located on pier. Olympia was in equal parts surprised, proud and horrified when she saw Serena heading towards her with the unshakable commitment practically pouring out of her eyes. More credit was due for her, she was thoroughly determined.

"I fear for you child, you're getting yourself involved in something very dangerous," Olympia said rather ominously.

"A swarm of killer creatures came from another dimension and killed him—how does the universe allow that?" Serena replied, already quite agitated. "He wasn't given the chance to live a proper life, he didn't even get a proper death from his own world. And I'm not a child."

"I can't help but agree with you. Something isn't right."

"What do you mean by that?" Serena asked, quite intrigued by Olympia's words.

"Well, I can't quite explain it."

"Please try."

"It's as if I can still feel his energy, his aura, but not his life itself. Ash always had something different about him, something else that I couldn't sense on anyone else. But Serena, it is obvious to me that Ash Ketchum is no longer in this world. Something isn't right, I can feel it. Maybe the immaturity of the situation still lets me see his aura, and the lingering energy needs time to disperse and regularize. Maybe you will be successful and I can see him still roaming the earth in the future. But I just don't know."

"All I hear is that I have to go through with this. I have to try."

"I already told you, I have no way to call upon the beast that can create life from nothing," Olympia said.

"Xerneas, the pokemon that can grant eternal life and bring back the dead. Very few people know it exists. Even fewer know how to contact it. That's why I called somebody who knows."

That person was Ramos, the Gym Leader from Coumarine City, who was a jolly old man, who carried himself with a calm and collected demeanor, and who was currently walking towards them with the aid of a giant pair of scissors advantageously utilized as a cane. He specialized in grass type pokemon, and so he was very in tune with nature and always did his best to keep it unadulterated from the hands of other humans. Because of that he had gained the favor of the noble creature Xerneas itself.

"This young lady's very persistent," Ramos said, with the oscillating voice of a pleased old man.

"Tell me about it," Olympia scantily replied.

"So, I understand you must do this young Serena, but I'm afraid I can't call Xerneas based on what you say. There's a reason it chose to reveal itself to me after all. Past that, I'm not completely certain Xerneas will even answer my call."

"Please Ramos! All I need is for you to try, I know that all I need to do is explain what happened. I'm sure that out of all the creatures of earth Xerneas won't stand still while something like this happens. You said it was here, right?"

"Well, yes. I guess there's nothing else but to try with the horn of life…" Ramos produced a thick flute that had a sort of arc headed upwards.

"Stop right there!" Misty yelled from afar. She was completely devoid of breath and covered in sweat.

"Oh, come on!" Serena shouted angrily. "How did you get here so fast?"

"Once we caught on your trail it was easy to follow you here. Ash's mom is coming."

"Good, she should be here to welcome her son back."

"What are you talking about? That's really disrespectful. You sound insane."

"That might be the case," Serena said. "You know what, I might be insane. But at least I'm ready to lay down everything I have for a chance to give Ash back what they took from him. Can you say the same thing for yourself?"

Misty hesitated, she had no reply for Serena; none at all. And perhaps, because Serena wasn't apologizing, nor was she disproving the fact that she was doing something wrong, nobody would be able to argue with her and win.

Then the rest of the group arrived, including Delia Ketchum. Both Olympia and Ramos instantly felt the unease in the air, but Serena was completely undeterred, and the pair of leaders were convinced enough to stay there and fight for her alternative.

"Give us Ash back!" Lillie shouted.

"This isn't Ash," Serena replied, "but I'll do as you say. I'll give you Ash back, you'll see."

"You need to stop this Serena, we need a chance to mourn my son," Delia said.

"Ah! You don't understand."

"That's right, they don't understand Serena," Olympia said. "We need to explain to them what we are doing. Perhaps if we had explained ourselves from the very beginning we could've avoided this."

"No way! If I'd tried to explain myself they would've thought me insane right then, and then I wouldn't have had the chance to take Ash's remains. You have no idea of how many people laughed at me, mocked me mercilessly, right in my face, when I tried to explain my plan. But I'm the only one doing something!"

"I understand Serena," Delia said. "I know it's hard for you, it's hard for all of us. And I know it's going to be hard to let Ash go. But we must begin to do just that, in every way we can. No hard feelings, I know exactly how you feel."

"Are you serious? How can you give up so easily? Ash would be ashamed of you. I'm telling you. There is a way to bring Ash back to life after his unjust death. What's the harm in trying? If nobody else will do it then I will. If there was a chance to bring him back, he who has saved so many, he who would never give up so easily, why wouldn't you at least try?" Serena said loud.

And then there was silence.

"See, I told you they wouldn't understand. None of you could ever understand," Serena continued with her heart in her throat. "I know I'm acting out—acting irrationally, because Ash has died and there's no way I could let him go. And it is true, I can't let him go. But this is more than that. He helped me a lot, he saved my life. The only thing I can do is try to save his."

"It's not your decision to make Serena," Lillie said.

"I won't stop. And I don't care if you can't forgive me. If I have to profane his memory to correct the profane way in which he died, so be it."

"We'll stop you," Misty said.

"Nobody has to do this, you yourself don't have to do this," Lana firmly added. "But just know that we will stop you."

"Stop! Everybody!" Mallow cried. And everyone did stop, and their spirits were thwarted, and their collective energy went down instantly. "She might be crazy, but she has a point. If there was a way to correct Ash's unjust death, then why wouldn't we at least try? What's the worst thing that could happen, is Ash going to die again?"

"You can't be serious Mallow," Sophocles said, speaking out for the first time since they arrived in Kalos.

"Why not?" Lana asked, showcasing her fickleness, but also her open-mindedness.

"Why not? You can't be seriously considering what these lunatics are saying Lana," Lillie said.

"Don't you want to see Ash again?" Lana asked, and silenced everybody with her question.

"…I know I want to," Delia said. "I'm in."

And there was not a word that those against Serena could say afterwards. Ultimately, it was Lana who managed to convince Delia, all in a second after what she said, turning the tide in favor of irrationality.

After their spirits cooled down and they pondered about the situation for just a little bit longer, everyone but Sophocles agreed to continue with Serena's plan. They ignored his protests. In reality it was quite easy to forget he was there at all.

Lillie was the last one to agree, and by the end she was still indignant, and so she remained indignant. But even she had to admit that they seemingly had nothing to lose and everything to gain, even if they all had suddenly decided to act in such an insane as well as disrespectful way. But before Ramos could blow the horn of life, which had been given to him by Xerneas itself, yet another woman arrived and shouted at him to stop. Professor Juniper. She was the leading scientist of the Unova region, and she already knew everything about the situation which was currently enfolding. She arrived to the group exuding an air of serenity and coolness, which the others, worried and agitated, didn't take well.

"What now?" Serena cried.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to stop you," Juniper said. "Rather to tell you not to waste your call to Xerneas just yet. Because you don't just need the already wondrous ability to create life from nothing to bring Ash back. You also need the right vessel to pour that life into, and I'm afraid that dirt and those clothes aren't going to do the trick. But fear not, once I caught wind of what Serena was trying to do—through a mutual acquaintance of her and I, one Professor Sycamore, to whom she first asked for help and he refused, but was cautious enough to alert me—I did some investigating of my own, and, perhaps, I have something to add that will increase the chances of this… experiment, being successful. What do you say? You said it yourself, if you could increase the chances of seeing Ash again, why wouldn't you?"

After another oscillating moment of silence they all agreed with her. And so they calmed down, and Ramos packed away his horn. Just then they all realized how frantic the situation had become. In reality none of them had taken the time to truly mourn their loss, and Juniper's words were the perfect antidote to assuage their traumatized states. Collective rest and recollection ensued; the tensions between the two groups, the one from Alola and the one from Kalos, stayed in the atmosphere albeit only in a silent way.

Juniper called them and started explaining her own machinations.

"Serena's plan was a very noble one, and it's easy to see why she thought it would be as simple as that. However, these creatures are not omnipotent, at least not by themselves… but with the help of some other creatures, then, they can become so much more than what they already are on their own, and then, then we'd have something to work with. That's why I have taken the liberty to call Ash's friend from Sinnoh, Dawn, after being unable to contact the regional champion Cynthia. She, as in Dawn, is now on her way here along with one of my colleagues. Together I think we can come up with a more concrete plan."

All the rest of them could do was nod in silence at the professor's sober explanation. On their own, each of them had decided to yield the control of the situation entirely to her, because of her obvious superior knowledge and her natural ability to lead. And only one day after Ash departed they had gone from being fully resigned to learning to live without him, to being extremely hopeful, and confident, that he would once again breath on the earth next to them. It was a dangerous decision that they, in their distressed states, could barely make on their own, and regardless of what happened next, there was no coming back from it.

On that same day Ash's friend from Sinnoh, Dawn, arrived in Kalos, along with Juniper's friend Fennel, who was also an esteemed scientist in her own right. As soon as she met with the group and introduced herself, Dawn produced two objects from her backpack. One was a soft, round orb, which was always glowing beautifully. The other one was a coarse diamond, also with a slight round shape, which was always gleaming brightly.

"I talked to Cynthia," Dawn said. "I told her everything that Professor Juniper told me. She says that if Juniper is okay with this then so is she. Cynthia knew Ash too by the way, and she was dismayed when she heard the news. As was I. And just so we are clear I am fully on board with this too. Ash was a very good friend of mine, and for a long time I had been hoping to see him again…" Dawn took a pause to take a deep breath. Her lungs had closed off, she sensed she would start crying if she didn't do anything. She was strong enough to compose herself without shedding a tear and she carried on. "Anyway, with these two orbs we can contact Palkia and Dialga, like Jupiper asked."

"Splendid! You did a great job Dawn, thank you for coming through with such a task so successfully, and so quickly too! Now I'll explain what will happen." Juniper cleared her throat. "We need a time where Ash, well, when he was still with us. We also need a space where we can come into contact with him so as to be able to interact with him. And we need a source of life to bring him back to us, in our time and our place. Dialga, Palkia, and Xerneas, respectively. All that's left is for Fennel and I to prepare a vessel for him to arrive in, and to prepare a sample of Ash's dna, to explain to the creatures who it is exactly that we are looking for. We are going to need those remains."

"Wait!" Someone said with noticeable alarm. "You are really going to do this? You're going through with this, it's… it's so reckless, and so unbelievable. You can't possibly think it will work, right? You can't just call three mythical beings to the same place, simply to ask them to bring someone you miss back to life."

It was Sophocles, who reminded everyone of his existence with his pessimistic rant. At least it sounded like that to everyone there.

"The chances are good, the risks, minimum. Other than upsetting a few powerful creatures, who'll lose just a bit of trust with Cynthia and Ramos if we fail. And everyone has agreed. We are moving forward with this."

"I don't think this is a good idea guys."

"Why are you so reluctant Sophocles?" Lana asked. "Don't you want to see Ash again?"

"Everything will be fine, don't worry," Mallow said. "Are you afraid?"

"Aren't you?" Sophocles asked back.

"Don't worry, we'll protect you," Lillie said with a hint of harmless condescension.

"I still don't think we should do this."

"Well, it's happening, isn't it Juniper?" Delia said, as she looked at the scientist.

"Indeed," Juniper finalized…

Very soon they were ready to put their plan in motion, or rather, to finish it off with a resounding success, which would signify Ash's return into his world of origin. It happened one morning on the Anistar's sundial. Juniper put on protective goggles and channeled electricity through the two orbs which were in turn connected to a big cylindrical machine. It seemed to be as easy as that, and they had devised it so quickly too. The group stood solemn on the pier, the tensions were so high it made them all shake subtly. Next Ramos blew the horn of life, and made all their ears and their skulls, and the ground, and the water in front of him, all tremble. And even though it was the loudest sound they had heard in all their lives, it felt only soothing, like the singing of a little child with perfect pitch.

Slowly, but at a continuous pace, the sea began to boil, and the morning sky started changing colors. First it was filled with a pink that flowed from the east and then encompassed the whole sky, as abundant vapors raised from the dangerously hot water below. Then the sky turned black; pitch black, in a second, as if somebody had suddenly turned off the light of the whole firmament above them. In a second there were no clouds or stars. There seemed to be no sky and no cover separating the mere mortals from the overwhelming nothingness above them. Such happening had ensued simply by blowing softly into a little instrument, and reaching some harmless sparks to two shiny rocks of the size of a child's fist. All of the sudden a giant white horn pierced through the encompassing black, and then from the ensuing leak, blinding white began to pour, filling the darkness until everything was shining brightly.

And from the white, Palkia and Dialga manifested in full, first their red eyes, then their heads, and finally their bodies. And then they were there, just as the humans had asked.

On the ground everyone was unable to move or speak. They could sense what was happening, they were able to take in all the imposing majesty, but they couldn't move a muscle. There they had their opportunity to speak, to plead, to make their case for the return of their beloved, and they were all petrified. An indistinguishable moment passed, Palkia and Dialga roamed indiscriminately through the white, observing the frozen humans up close, judging them with giant, mesmerizing eyes, as those below cowered, covered in sweat, without moving. Palkia and Dialga took a distinctly long time staring at Ash's clothes, then, after seemingly making a joint decision, they raised above the humans in the encompassing white, and called upon a green sea on the ground, from which Xerneas appeared, horns first, rising, after it manifested. The three beasts then began to shine, at the same time as the ground trembled. The white was suddenly gone, the group regained their motion and their voices, the ground and the sea were visible, but the sky was still fully black. Also on the ground the machine that Fennel and Juniper had created started shaking, and a curious beam of light poured from it all the way to the sky.

"Mallow!" Juniper shouted to the closest one to the machine, while still caring for the electrified orbs. "Open the door! The energy needs to come out or the thing will explode!"

Mallow nodded decisively with her forehead covered in sweat and went for the machine. She opened the door and was immediately horrified, when she saw that a massive blob, skin-colored, was pulsating grotesquely, reveling inside. Seemingly from nowhere the thing screamed, with a screeching, high-pitched noise that was harrowing to her ears, and then it disappeared whole, and the trembling stopped, and the humans were unable to move again. On the black sky Palkia roared loudly, it seemed suddenly angry and ready to start causing damage. But then from the ground Xerneas called to it with a gentle roar, and with the help of Dialga, also on the sky, they managed to calm Palkia down.

None on the ground could think of a reason for their actions. Any dialogue the creatures were having with each other couldn't be understood by anyone else. But how they would've been grateful to listen carefully, only if they had been able. And there was something else, at least one more being wished to keep the truth hidden from those who were below. But they would end up uncovering it; they'd know the truth, in the end.

The humans regained motion, and then they all screamed when they saw, very clearly, how a fully naked Ash Ketchum, and Pikachu, the same Ash and Pikachu they had always known, came out of the machine and then fell gracefully on the ground. However, the sudden joy that everyone felt went back to the previous horror, when a second pair of Ash and Pikachu, also fully naked, both of them, came out of the machine and then fell gracefully and unharmed on top of the first pair which was already resting on the ground, naked. More bewilderment came when a third pair of Ash and Pikachu came out of the machine and did the same as the last pair, and the Ashs and Pikachus didn't stop coming out of the machine, and then they piled up nicely on top of each naked pair, as each naked pair came fresh out of the machine.

"What is going on?" horrified, Mallow asked.

"Do you think I know?" Juniper replied.

"This is all your fault!"

"Shut up, there's no time for that!"

"We gave you what you wanted!" Fennel added.

"I told you we shouldn't have done this!"

"Shut up, this is probably your fault!" Lillie suddenly lashed out at Sophocles. "Your negativity did this."

"Shut up everyone! Can't you see we are about to die?" Cried Misty.

From the machine Ashs and Pikachus didn't stop coming out, fresh and tender and fully naked. Meanwhile on the black sky Dialga and Palkia roared and shouted, and from the green sea, in the middle of the regular sea, Xerneas did the same, very loudly and terrifyingly, as if the trio were laughing at the humans and their gullibility.

"I underestimated their power!" Juniper shouted. "They aren't just powerful creatures. They are, gods!"

The collective screaming then stopped, first from the beasts above, and on the sea, and then on the ground. A giant white horn, completely separate from the three pokemon, pierced through the black sky once more and then Palkia and Dialga went inside. Then from the opening in the sky Dialga called Xerneas on the sea, and then Xerneas raised too and went in the opening. And before the opening on the sky closed a powerful storm raged for a few seconds, and the sky lost its pitch-black darkness.

Then it was simply the naked sky, without any light from the sun producing a pleasant cover from the vast space. The humans could see their insignificance concretely well above them. As Xerneas left, it took with it the horn of life right from Ramos's hands. The two orbs broke and the cables connecting them to the machine burned. And then when the three pokemon were fully gone, the blue returned to the sky. And everyone was still there, safe and sound, at least physically, including the naked pile of Ashs and Pikachus.

"I really, really hope we haven't angered them in a serious way," Juniper said. "I really pity the person who chooses to make the gods angry."


	3. Gone Horribly Right

"Stop!" shouted one of the women. "Everyone stop! We are better than this…"

Delia Ketchum had shouted. Somebody had punched her in the jaw, she was pretty sure it had been Juniper. She didn't mind it at all though, because she understood. Their spirits were running high and they needed to release some tension after the supernatural happening they had just witnessed. However, she herself had dished out quite a few good hits of her own, so perhaps it was because of her own aggression that she was so ready to forgive everyone else.

Everyone was freaking out and breathing heavily. Sweaty faces with petrified eyes open wide all around; the appropriate expression to make when the laws of reality are broken in front of your eyes.

At the very least, Delia was correct in thinking that everyone else would be as equally understanding as her. After she shouted everyone stopped fighting, and then they all resorted to breathing heavily while rubbing their wounds and their knuckles.

"Let's calm ourselves down, we need to clear our minds before we start thinking about how to proceed," she said.

It was early in the morning on Anistar City, no one else was around. No one but the wannabe necromancers and the unexpected product of their grief-induced lunacy.

All of the sudden, Iris, yet another dear friend of Ash, this one from Unova, arrived at the scene. She was a very curious person in general, she hated waiting for no reason. She liked to do things for herself, and whenever she felt like she wasn't being active, she couldn't shake off the terrible feeling that something was very wrong. Juniper had called her, although she had failed to mention a concrete reason for doing so.

"What in the world is going on in here?" Iris asked urgently. "Can somebody please explain?"

"We tried to revive Ash," Juniper answered. "And it worked. Except, they gave us… considerably more of them than we asked for."

"You think?" Mallow said, sarcastically and full of anger.

"What do you mean by they, who are they?" Iris asked.

"Dialga, Palkia and Xerneas, it was a whole ordeal."

"What! When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me this is what you were doing? I would've loved to have been a part of it! You just kept me in the dark about everything!"

"Sorry Iris," Juniper said. "I wanted to keep this situation as contained as possible. How many of them are there total?"

"Fourteen," Fennel answered.

"Fourteen Ash! It can't be!" Lillie exclaimed.

"Wait, I miscounted. There's fifteen of them."

"Get it together Fennel," Lana said.

"I humbly apologize," Fennel said, adamantly. "I may have a concussion, so excuse my—hopefully—transient inability to count correctly."

"Sorry about that," Lana added.

"I take no offense," Fennel replied.

"I missed everything!" Iris exclaimed. Then she protruded her lip in a genuinely angry pout. "Juniper, I won't forgive you."

"Really?" Juniper replied, trying to feign disappointment while breathing heavily. "Oh well, I hope one day you change your mind."

"Seriously, how could you do this to me? Hey you, what is your name?"

"Who, me?" Sophocles pointed at himself.

"Yeah, you!"

"Sophocles."

"Great, Sophocles, explain what happened, step by step and without omitting a single detail."

"Hm, okay. Honestly when things start happening very fast around me, like with a lot of energy, I sort of lose awareness of my outside space, so I couldn't really focus on what happened before or after it happened. But I guess I'll give it a try. After it happened, at first everyone was very scared. We all grabbed our heads, some started screaming. I thought we would lose our minds, but we didn't. Then we became calmer, and things seemed to be alright, but then we realized what we had done and we got mad at each other. Some said we had made a terrible mistake while others said we knew the risks and everyone had agreed to do it anyway. Others didn't seem to worry that much because we were successful, I think. One group didn't like what the other group was saying and vice versa. Meanwhile Ramos and I were just hanging out on the sidelines, I was trying not to bring too much attention to myself, because I knew that if they noticed me I would get nervous and start talking. And I knew I'd say something wrong and they'd go for me. Ramos got some hits, but he hit back a little and then he went home. He was just as angry as them. They were very angry right then, but even as they were angrily shouting at each other they were making pretty sound arguments both for and against what we did. I was very scared, I mean, honestly, as far as what happened, our general reaction seemed pretty reasonable to me. And then we all fought."

"I meant what happened before that, Sophocles, with Dialga and Palkia and that."

"Oh…"

"There's no time for that," Juniper said. "We have to figure out what we're going to do about this. The bottom line is, Ash died. We tried to bring him back from the dead. We succeeded. We did very well actually, and now we have many of him. Fourteen, to be exact."

"Fifteen," Fennel added.

"Oh yes, fifteen of him"

Right then, all the Ashs from the pile of naked Ashs began moaning softly, just like they'd do when waking up in the morning, signaling very appropriately that they were regaining consciousness, or rather, gaining it for the first time ever. They all stood up, slowly, pretty much at the same time, still rear and front naked, with no discernible difference from one another, at least in that moment.

All the Ashs started speaking, just like the regular Ash spoke before his departure.

"Jeez, what happened?" asked one of them as he rubbed his head.

"I had the strangest dream," said another one.

"I feel numb, right Pikachu?"

"I hope they caught the guy who ran me over, I feel like garbage."

"Where am I?"

"I couldn't help but do this, I had no other choice."

"I'm cold."

They all kept talking at the same time, but, curiously, none of them took notice, or perhaps none of them cared, about the fact that they were all naked, and at this very peculiar sight the astonished spectators, primarily the girls, blushed vivid red and averted their eyes, for the most part. A small crowd of passersby had gathered behind all the Ashs. It included some policemen and some firemen, who proceeded to put out the machine that was still on fire.

Suddenly someone from the crowd, a reporter, stepped forward with her cameraman.

"Hey! Who are all of you and why are you naked?" she asked with a microphone to her mouth.

Then all the Ashs replied to her at the same time. The dissimilar, wild manes on top of their heads as well as their glaring nakedness prevented all the curious eyes from realizing that they were all the same guy.

"Hey! I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and I want to be a Pokemon Master! Right Pikachu?"

Suddenly the yellow mass next to them dissolved into fifteen Pikachu. They all shook their heads to help dissipate the hazy headaches of the first awakening. Some of them stood in two legs, some remained in four, regardless all of them became alert very quickly, and nodded effusively in agreement with their trainer, all of him.

"…That's right! As to why I'm naked… Ahhhh!

First the fifteen Ashs grabbed their heads in horror, leaving their sensible regions exposed. After realizing their mistake, they all lowered their hands and used them as cover, while the people from the crowd took abundant photographs. The Ashs scrambled and twisted and accidentally hurt each other trying to escape their vulnerability. After a full uncomfortable minute, the fifteen Ashs took refuge behind the sundial, because one of them got the brilliant idea of using it as a cover and then the rest followed him, still shouting and pushing each other.

The situation finally deescalated when Delia and company were able to fend off the crowd and then took all the Ashs to safety, and provided them with much needed clothing. Then, after some thoughtful deliberation, it was decided unanimously that they would be taken to Kanto, where everyone, together as a cohesive unit, could contemplate on the full extent of the situation in a safer and more familiar environment. However, as the women and Sophocles took the confused and tender herd of Ashs to the airport, and dealt with the ethical gray area, the diplomatic nightmare, the ontological mystery, and something else regarding personal identity, which the situation represented, one of the fifteen Ashs began vibrating strangely. All of his body at the same time. The movement was faster than the human eye could discern, so the Ash looked like a blurred version of himself. It was obvious he wasn't doing that voluntarily. Then a white glow appeared all over his contour.

Then he exploded. One of the fifteen Pikachus also exploded. Both of them released myriads of white sparkles all around which didn't manage to reach the ground and disappeared completely after a few moments suspended in the air. And then there was no trace of one of the Ashs, except for the simple white shirt and shorts that he had just put on.

All of the sudden it was as if that Ash had never existed, as if there had only been fourteen of them from the beginning. When the sudden shock from the explosion passed everyone was utterly horrified. Many harrowing hours passed during the trip to Pallet Town, and every moment they feared that they could end up reaching Ash's hometown without a single Ash still with them. The best case scenario was of course that thirteen more of him disappeared and left only one to keep, they had that one on the back of their minds. But on the forefront, on their most conscious thoughts, there was pure stress, while they made sure that every Ash stayed put, with their seat belts on, and behaved properly during the trip; it was clear that none of them had yet adjusted to that new existence.

Even after the group reached Delia's house on Pallet Town, and got all the Ashs fully dressed with their own clothes, and realized that every single one of them acted just like the real Ash, looked just like him, spoke just like him, and was exactly like him; even after they speculated that they all could've been the same Ash, the real Ash, only multiplied, they couldn't calm down. Because another one of the Ashs could blow up and disappear at any moment…

A whole week passed, everyone who was already there stayed in Pallet Town, and no more Ashs or Pikachus disappeared. Enough time passed in order for everyone to forget the fear they felt when one of the Ashs burst into thin air, when they thought that all of them would explode and the world would lose Ash Ketchum a second time. They had forgotten enough of that fear in order to calm down, and to start considering anything other than the possibility of losing him.

Delia, Misty, Dawn, Mallow, Serena, Lillie, Lana, Iris, Juniper, Fennel, and even Sophocles, all had stayed in Pallet Town to check on the Ashs. Even if they had other things to do, other matters to attend to, they cared too much about that incredible situation to leave. The curiosity itself was enough to keep them glued to that small town, where more incredible things would happen.

They did their best to keep what had actually happened a secret. As far as the general public was concerned, on Anistar City a week ago there had been an earthquake at the same time there had been an eclipse, or something simulating an eclipse—experienced trainers having flashy matches by the pier had made such news believable—as well as a protest of some kind which involved many naked guys, all named Ash.

What the rest of the world didn't know, was that three inter-dimensional creatures of immense power had brought to life fifteen versions of the same guy, and because of the omission of this sensational fact, everyone else forgot about the whole thing pretty quickly.

However, on Pallet Town, those who knew the truth weren't so cruel so as to hide it from the people who actually cared about Ash. So, after the categorically true news of Ash being alive reached her, yet another girl who was a very good friend of Ash went to visit all of him in Pallet Town. The name of this latest girl was May, and she was a very sweet and lively girl from the region of Hoenn. She was very athletic, a bit impatient, and loved food above all things.

When May reached Pallet Town things were rather tense. While the remaining Ashs and Pikachus ran freely across the fields, climbed trees, and became good pals with one another, the women and Sophocles realized that among most of them there was a harshly constrictive conflict of interest. The interest, was Ash Ketchum, and the conflict, was that they loved him; they really loved him. So when May arrived, and they found themselves with yet another probable adversary, their spirits elevated to truly uncomfortable levels. Once again they were close to the point of no return. The point where something would unavoidably have to change, in order for their lives to continue. The point from which many losers—many more than the last time, in fact—and only one winner, would stem. So obviously, when May arrived nobody there bothered to make her feel comfortable, nor merely welcome in any way. At the very least they were worrying about something over which they had some control. And it seemed like nobody would die after all.

That was, until things got heated.

"I love Ash Ketchum!" cried Mallow. "And I'm not afraid to admit it."

"I love him honestly," Serena quickly replied. "I love Ash Ketchum, and I've loved him for as long as I've been able to remember. I'm sorry but you can't just love him like I do."

"I understand how you feel Serena, I really do," Lillie said, "but you can't presume to know how we all feel, and, let's face it, we all love Ash."

"Surely it isn't all of us. It can't be, can it?" Lana said.

"Let's find out," May playfully added. "Whoever happens to be in love with Ash, raise your hand."

"Hey!" Serena said, "you seem to have made a mistake there May. I'm not just in love with Ash."

"Come on girls, we are better than this." This time it was Dawn who spoke. "I'll admit, I love Ash. I do love him dearly, but I'd be lying if I said that I love, love him, as a man. It's easy to just come out and say that, but to mean it… I care about him too much to do that. However, I am in love with him, and I don't think my feelings should be disparaged."

Dawn's words were like a knife filled with discomfort and anxiety that hit Serena's chest. All of the sudden she was forced to confront the possibility of her feelings not being unique. It wasn't like she had never thought about it before. If she was able to notice just how attractive Ash was, just how great of a human being he really was, then it was obvious other people would be able to see it too. Sometimes that even made her happy, right after she accepted that she couldn't keep him all to herself—at least not all sides of him; she conformed with the side of him that mattered in that regard, more specifically, the side of him that could belong to another person, as in, through marriage. But his natural beauty as well as the numerous gifts he had to give to the world needed to be shared, or at least witnessed by everyone. But what Serena couldn't fathom was that someone else loved Ash more than her.

"And so I'll gladly raise my hand," Dawn said. And then she raised her hand decisively. And she genuinely meant it.

Mallow, Lana and Lillie promptly followed her example and raised their hands too.

Serena did it too, as quickly as she could react, and she raised her hand as high as she could. She was almost standing on the tip of her toes, but still she tried to contain her overwhelming eagerness to herself. She wanted to shout and jump.

Then May raised her hand too, slowly, looking away from everyone else, and with her lips pursed, trying to contain a mischievous smile.

"Okay so, it seems there are six of us…"

"Wait! I love Ash too!" Iris then shouted, with her fist raised.

"Are you sure Iris? We can kind of sense that you don't love him like we do," May said. "This is not a game."

"You just want to be a part of this, it's okay if you're not," Lillie added.

"Oh yeah? You don't know me," Iris replied. "How do you know I'm not being serious?"

"Ash told me you were pretty competitive," Serena said.

"He didn't tell you anything."

"Hey, I caught up with him after you did, so he could have told me all sorts of things about any of you."

"Except the three of us," Lillie interjected.

"Right, yeah, I didn't know you. Again it's such a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise Serena, we loved your cookies (Serena had baked cookies for everyone during that week, in case that isn't clear)."

"Oh, thank you so much," Serena said.

"I still think you're crazy," Lillie said speaking very fast.

"I understand."

"…I'm not going to lower my hand!" Iris insisted. "You can't tell me how I feel, and you can't guess either."

"Okay fine Iris. Is that all of us then?" Mallow asked, out loud and clear.

They all turned to Misty, everyone. She was visibly struggling, with her head turned to the ground beneath her, holding her hands behind her, fiddling with her feet. The girls with their hands raised could sense from her what they couldn't sense from Iris—what they could in fact sense within themselves. And they cared enough about her to help her out a little bit.

"Do you love him or not Misty?" Serena asked. "I know it isn't a simple question, but if you are serious about how you feel, answering it should be easy. I know it is for me."

"I do," Misty said, as she raised her head. And then she looked firmly at the girls. "I do love Ash," she said. Then she exhaled most of the air she had inside her lungs, with a good deal of exasperation as well as a grumpy pout with her lips, and then she raised her hand.

"Oh my!" Delia exclaimed, with her hand on her cheek. "I always knew my Ash was special. To think that all of you are in love with him, and you are all so special too, and so lovely, he must be truly special, one of a kind. Oh, I knew it! And he's very lucky too. Every single one of you is as beautiful, smart, sober, and lovely a woman as the rest, and I'd be glad to be the mother-in-law of any of you." She visibly blushed, and sighed deeply with her eyes closed.

"That's right!" Juniper said, as she approached the group from afar, with Fennel behind her. "Any one of you, for any one of him. I have some news."

It was immediately noticeable, even from the adamant way she walked, that an important discovery regarding the Ash situation had been freshly made. Indeed, that was the case; everyone braced for it, and hoped the news were only favorable.

Juniper explained.

"So, theoretically speaking, we have discovered the reason as to why one of the Ashs disappeared before our very eyes back on Kalos: Apparently, there is only enough energy to sustain one Ash Ketchum in this world. Sadly, his energy is indeed finite.

"As it would seem, the categorized miracle done by Dialga, Palkia and Xerneas back on Kalos wasn't perfect. It's obvious the process is still working itself out as we speak, you just have to look at their regressed behavior. For all their marvelous and supernatural endeavors, they weren't able to contain all of Ash's considerable energy into just one vessel, hence the fifteen—now fourteen of him. And here's the thing, that discrepancy must be corrected. Don't worry though, it will correct itself—it will take time, but only so—all we have to do is wait.

"What this means is: more Ashs and Pikachus will disappear, yes. All but one of each in fact. When that happens, the one that's left, whom, I assume, is one of the fourteen running around through the fields, will be the real one, the real Ash Ketchum—the one we love so much we had to bring back from the dead. So there you go, we did it.

"There's one more important thing that I'd like to add, and it is that Fennel and I, have created an algorithm that can predict when the next reconfiguration and regularization of Ash's energy—aka the next time one of them will explode—will take place. And that is… once a week."

Everyone gasped.

"That's right. And remember, it's been one week since the last… let's call it, incident, which means that the next incident will take place tentatively within tonight and tomorrow morning. I recommend keeping the fourteen remaining Ashs together, as together as they can be. I understand such a task can get, perhaps not difficult, but rather bothersome. So far four fights have broken out between them, although judging by the fact that three of them had to do with the Ashs stealing each other's food, and the other one pertained to a hide-and-seek game that got too far, as long as you keep them well-fed and restrict the competitive activities, maintaining the order shouldn't be difficult. With the pikachu, on the other hand, a separation is needed. Who would have thought that they'd be so authoritative? Something will have to be done, we will have to establish a system to allow each pikachu to visit his Ash at different periods of time."

"Are you kidding me?" May said, rather incredulously. Everyone turned to her, the insolence oozing from her was palpable.

"Excuse me?" Juniper said.

"I'm sorry professor, but, can't any of you see? This is a great opportunity. There will never be another like this one. We have to use it… come on! Don't tell me you can't see it."

"Oh my God, she's right!" Lillie exclaimed.

"What? What is it? I don't understand," Iris said. She was genuinely clueless about it. "Please explain to me what she's talking about."

As Iris was speaking, it dawned on some of them, who quietly took in the sheer audacity of what May was suggesting, as well as how uniquely fortuitous such opportunity really was.

"But what are you really suggesting May?" Lillie asked.

"Do I really have to say it? No. I think I've said enough. Somebody else needs to say it, come on. I can't be the only one who thinks this is a good idea."

"It is a dangerous idea," Dawn said. "But, I can't think of any other way to resolve this right now. I'm sure I could think of another idea, but it wouldn't be as fun."

"What! What is a dangerous idea? What do we need to resolve? Come on! Anyone?"

"Iris! We all love Ash!" Mallow said. "Or at least we all say we do. If we really know him and we love him, then surely we could choose the one who will remain at the end, the real Ash Ketchum, out of the fourteen of them."

"Oh!" Iris exclaimed. She'd finally gotten it.

"In order for this to work the eight of us would all have to pick different Ashs," Lillie said.

"There's fourteen of them," Lana rebuffed her.

"If we all know who the real one is, then we will all pick him, won't we? Oh jeez!"

"That's right Lillie," Serena said. "But guess what, we are talking about him like he's cattle. He can choose for himself you know, and for the things he can't choose for himself, well here's Delia too."

They all turned to Delia, who immediately became nervous, mainly from how delicate the situation had become. Not so much from how complicated it was, and it was quite complicated, but because of how many possibilities she had to think about right about then.

"Well, to tell you the truth…"

"Ms. Ketchum, before you say anything," Fennel interrupted her, with the softest voice she could produce. "I can only try to understand what you're going through, but, there are fourteen of them, surely you could use some help, and these girls seem like they have a good head on their shoulders. Even Serena, sorry Serena. Her plan was… out there, but it is because of her that we're talking about this right now."

"Um." Delia started to speak. "Actually I was going to say that, even after all the time Ash has spent on the road, and regardless of how much he has grown, as his mother I think I'm pretty sure I can pinpoint the one that's my real son from the rest of them. And if that's the case, and mind you, that is the case, then you can of course help me by caring for the rest of them, temporarily, of course.

"Oh! Ho Ho! So that's how it is," May said, thoroughly enjoyed. "I like your style Ms. Ketchum, it's on."

"Wait! Before we decide to go through with this we have to set up some ground rules," Dawn said.

"Yes, please do that," Iris added. "I'm still not quite certain about some details."

"Yeah I have no idea of what's going on," Sophocles, surprisingly, added. They all turned to him silently for a few seconds, then they ignored him and returned to the conversation. He was glad for this.

"So," Dawn said, "here's the situation. There's fourteen Ashs and seven of us. Nine counting Iris and Ash's mom Delia."

"Hey, count Fennel and I too," Juniper said.

"Definitely," Fennel added.

"Wait! Excuse me, this isn't a game," Serena said quite incensed.

"Games can be serious. We'll feed our Ashs… that's sounds weird. Look at it this way, as far as our two Ashs would be concerned, they'll be going on a vacation to Unova, and with Delia's permission, we'll care for them. Besides, they will have Iris and her own Ash to play with."

"It's fine by me, seeing as I'll pick the right one."

"Of course his own mom is confident. Anyway." Dawn continued. "There's… eleven of us. Seriously? And fourteen Ashs. Wait, what about you Sophocles, do you want an Ash to care for too? It's a big responsibility, it is a human being to care for."

"Um, no thank you," Sophocles quickly replied.

"Are you sure? No judgment here, honest."

"Yeah I'm sure, wait what?"

"Okay, it's fine, everything's fine. So, eleven people, fourteen Ashs. Each of us will pick one of the Ashs. And, in doing so we promise to take good care of them, to feed them and play with them-"

"As well as to break what happened to him gently," Juniper interrupted. "As I said the process is still ongoing, Ash will gradually get his mind, his senses and all of his memories back, and each of you is going to have to reveal the situation to him with tact and care. I'm sure he'll have at least a couple of questions."

"-Of course," Dawn continued, "and the one who picks Ash, the real Ash…"

"…Gets to ask him out," Lana said.

"Exactly! It is understood that the people who are in love with Ash will get first pick, right?"

"Sure, after Ash's mom."

"Fine, so that's it. We'll go there, and each of us will pick an Ash. If two or more people pick the same Ash that situation will be dealt with after everyone has chosen an Ash, understood? Can we begin?"

No one responded. Dawn was suddenly mad at them. However, all of that changed when she realized why they were so quiet. Far from them all the Ashs ran along Ash's herd of tauros, some of the boys on top of them, one of them hanging by the horns of one of the pokemon. Closer to the group, none other than Cynthia, the Sinnoh League Champion, walked towards them along with more friends of Ash, Bonnie and her brother Clemont by her side.

They all sensed more turmoil awaited them.


	4. Banquet of Ashs

The unthinkable happened. The possibility that seemed so remote to be considered, became true. And it was so unbelievable that such an outcome would present itself, that it made everyone doubt. They all doubted everything, not just their choices, everything. Because, how could it be possible? Something had to have gone completely wrong at some point. If only one of them had chosen differently then that would've made more sense; she, who had dared to choose differently, would've been the irrational one. But as every single woman had made a completely different choice, a strange aberration had to be at fault. Or perhaps, perhaps, it was destiny itself making things more interesting. Because everyone woman that chose an Ash chose a different one.

At the very least their difference was complete. Everyone had chosen differently, that had to account for something. That allowed them some comfort at least, the thought that all of them had made a different choice. It had to be predetermined, or if not, there had to be some kind of magic involved. It all would've been torn apart if two of them had chosen the same Ash, but none did.

Delia was respectfully given the first pick. Of course, all the Ashs immediately accepted the proposition that the women presented them with. They, unlike their counterparts, did see it as a game—their fresh minds were yet to regularize—and so they were all in without thinking about it for more than a second. They were all dressed differently, they all had chosen their clothes. The first Ash wore jeans and finger-less gloves. The last one, shorts and a simple shirt. Fourteen Ash Ketchum.

When they were stared at uniformly, however, from as close to them as possible—the Ashs were laughing, and still bothering each other playfully—the subtle difference between one another became noticeable. The color of the spark in their eyes, the microscopic difference in the angle of their posture, almost imperceptible changes in their energetic mannerisms. They were in fact different beings, and at the same time they were all Ash Ketchum, in shades of blue, white and red. It was just that, in thirteen weeks, only one of them would remain.

First, it was Delia's turn to pick one of her jolly sons aye of a litter of Ashs. And when she identified the one whom she favored above the rest, she smiled, and made every girl behind her tremble. However, they all sighed silently with relief when she picked a different Ash than the one they had eyed. Then it was Serena's turn, because the order had been decided as whoever had met Ash first. So Serena picked the one she thought with all of her heart was the real one, and then everyone behind her giggled comfortably. She didn't care, in her mind that just proved she loved him more than anyone else, because no one else could see that she had taken the hand of the real Ash Ketchum. Then it was supposed to be Misty's turn, but she refused to pick third. Everyone was bewildered, she said she was serious, but in reality she just couldn't bring herself to choose between one from the rest of them or one of the already taken ones, which was definitely allowed, obviously. She felt sick, her stomach genuinely hurt when she thought of picking out an Ash from the line. No, she just couldn't. She said she'd pick later.

And so it was May's turn, and when she picked her preferred Ash from the line, the rest who hadn't picked one yet, as well as the ones who had already picked, sighed with relief once more. However, that was when the alarming doubt began to grow within each of them. As the rest continued choosing their own Ashs, and the Ashs gleefully and honestly walked next to them, completely willing to follow their champions to wherever they went, the doubt grew more and more. It wasn't until Iris, Mallow, Lana and Lillie had chosen their distinctly respective Ash, and Misty rejected once more an opportunity to choose, that they commented on the peculiarity of the situation.

The best theory that they could come up with was that Ash himself was making it easier for everybody, by revealing his true self only to the person he loved the most. It was good enough for them, and then Juniper, Fennel, the little Bonnie who capriciously wanted an Ash to play with her, and even Cynthia, picked an Ash Ketchum to care for.

Then there were only two left, and Misty stood in front of both of them with a dour grin on her face. She closed her eyes, she realized she truly loved Ash Ketchum. The problem, which had bothered her from the beginning of the procedure, was that she couldn't distinguish which Ash was the real one. She really couldn't decide. All she did then was to extend her hand to the front of her, and when she felt that one of the remaining Ashs grabbed it she opened her eyes, and that was the one she picked.

"I thought you had a pokeball, or at least something to eat, but it's just your hand," her Ash said casually.

"That's right Ash," Misty replied sensibly. "Would you like to go to Cerulean City with me?"

"Sure, what for?"

"Why do you need a reason? Just to visit."

"Okay, yeah, sure. It'll be fun, right Pikachu? Ah, I forgot, he's not here. He hasn't felt very comfortable lately, among the other Pikachus and such. A change of air will do him good."

"Great."

And then the helpless herd of Ash had been dissolved and shamelessly picked up, and only one of the fourteen was left without a champion.

"What do we do with the Ash nobody wanted?" Bonnie innocently, yet insensitively, asked.

"She doesn't mean it like that Ash," Delia said, trying to console the sole Ash. "We value you, and you can stay in your room or wherever you like."

"Not being chosen is the worst," the remaining Ash said with his head down, and in equal parts sad and angry. "I feel an emptiness in my stomach."

"Are you sure that isn't this Ash's energy regularizing, by which I mean you're about to explode?" Sophocles said, also insensitively.

"Sophocles! Don't say that," Mallow said. "Maybe he just feels bad, you can keep him company if you want."

"I don't want an Ash, I told you. Why do you think that? I'm fine."

"You can still keep him company."

"Okay Ash," Sophocles said as he got closer to the lingering Ash, "do you want to go get something to eat?"

"You bet! As long as I can bring Pikachu."

"Of course. Hey, nice! We can even eat right there in the restaurant so the food doesn't get cold on the way home, and it won't be awkward at all since it'll be two of us. People will think we're in a business meeting or just two bros treating themselves after a long day of training. This is going to be great, warm meals right out of the oven, here we go!"

"Sweet," the repudiated Ash said with gusto. He then began vibrating, and then, after a white glow engulfed him for a few seconds, he exploded into white dust that disappeared seconds later.

"Welp, I guess that proves Juniper's theory," Lana added, while blushing, and holding her clueless Ash's hand.

"Perhaps. I can't be entirely sure," Juniper replied. "Rest assured I'll continue investigating." Juniper then grabbed her Ash's jaw and gently opened his mouth, then moved his head and inspected it carefully as he made some guttural sounds. Afterwards she produced a chocolate bar from her pocket and handed it to him. He proceeded to devour it whole in a second.

"So what do you think Ash, would you like to come with me to Nuvema Town? You'll have my Dad's house for yourself, and Fennel's Ash will be there too, perhaps. It'll be like an extended slumber party with your expiration-date twin."

"Yeah, that sounds awesome!" Juniper's Ash said to her.

"I promise I will only do non-invasive studies on you, and you'll have as many sweets as you want. Well, depending on your week-to-week development."

"Okay."

"I didn't want an Ash just for myself anyway, and I like eating at home," Sophocles brought forth.

Everyone laughed, specially some of the Ashs. Some of the others, however, were rather quiet and understated, uncharacteristically so. The doubt came back to the group—once again they couldn't help but feel insecure about their choices—but it soon went away once they put their trust in Ash Ketchum, as well as in themselves. A person constitutes an unmeasurable responsibility, the same way a life is an unavoidable responsibility. Each girl would take their Ash to their own homes, and, after basically seizing them to be taken away, at the very least, each girl was aware of that responsibility.

Also, everyone was satisfied with their choice, and all that was left was to see which one survived until the end, or rather, when the real Ash would finally appear.

"Well, I guess… we'll see… what happens next," Iris said.

"Yeah, I guess we will," Delia replied, with a gut instinct that made her hope for the best.


	5. Cerulean Crush

Cerulean City, one week after the first incident. Remaining Ashs: 13.

Ash was so vulnerable, that Misty could see every thought going through his mind by just looking at him in the eyes.

That's why, after arriving in Cerulean City, he did his best to avoid her.

He sat on a bench. He sat right on the middle of it, making it clear that he didn't want company, then he placed the book he was carrying with him to his left. The bench he had chosen was facing the right side of the giant Cerulean Gym, in a way that allowed him to gaze at the whole structure which had recently gone through a massive redesign. The building looked much more modern and sophisticated as a result, and because it was still a beautiful morning without clouds, the glass panels covering the entirety of the convex roof reflected the sunlight beautifully, in just the right amount.

Nobody else was around. Maybe it was because no one had to get up early to go to work that day, or maybe they were too tired from a hectic Saturday night. Maybe everyone else was busy doing things people usually did on a Sunday morning, although as to what those things entailed, Ash had no idea. All he knew was that it was calm and quiet outside. So he just grabbed his book about police detectives—because there are some detectives who aren't from the police—and opened it on page three, where he had left it. Ash was a slow reader.

Still, even Ash Ketchum enjoyed a book every once in a while. Or at least, one of the Ash Ketchum that started living just a week ago did. He just felt like he needed to read more, and also, Ash needed a distraction for his brain. Frankly, it was all about that. There was some desperation, not a lot, but enough to get him to pick up a book. Ash needed to distract himself because if he was left alone with his thoughts, even for just a serene moment, then the only thing that remained would quickly drive him insane. Essentially, he could only think that there was nothing within him. There was nothing, there was nothing and he wasn't doing anything. If he hadn't gone there, just to sit on a bench in front of the gym, he wouldn't have gone anywhere. If he weren't reading the book, he wouldn't be doing anything at all. He was empty, he had no memories to remember.

In theory Ash knew he could remember his life before two weeks ago, when the thing happened, but, he also knew he wouldn't enjoy trying to remember, in fact it would've been objectively unpleasant if he dared to try.

After a deeply quiet moment he got really into the book. The narrator was describing an accident, a young woman had crashed her car into a tree after avoiding a lone deerling on the middle of the road. Right then Ash noticed that there were some nice trees behind him, all of them uniformly tall and full of healthy green leaves. There were many of them, arranged in two lines, one at each side of the path that led to the gym. The path itself was made out of brick, with all of the individual orange bricks perfectly aligned with each other. All in all the colorful scenery was neatly arranged in a way that was very pleasant to his untrained eyes.

As he continued gazing at the beautiful scenery whilst ignoring the book, feeling a very soothing, calm delight, through the green appeared Misty riding a bike really fast. She instantly disrupted the mood, not in an unpleasant way, but definitely in a violent way, just from how fast she moved through his field of vision. She wasn't even going that fast, but nothing else was moving and then there she was riding all of the sudden; Ash almost jumped from the sudden scare. Still in motion, Misty gave Ash a smile but he immediately looked down at his book with no discernible expression on his mouth. He had no choice, it was a really nice smile to look at, very warm and very friendly at the same time, and it was accentuated by the nice atmosphere, the adequately bright light from the sun, and her eyes, her bright blue eyes so effusively communicating her inviting gesture. Ash had to look away, it was too much, but at least, in the state in which he was, looking away was easy, and then he continued reading about the accident on the road. At least for a while.

The gym was a circular building, with a brick pathway around it perfect for walking or riding a bike. Every time Misty completed another lap around the gym and passed in front of him, Ash would wait a second and then he'd look at her back, because he didn't dare to lift his gaze as she was heading towards him with a full view of his eyes. There was no way he could concentrate on his book with her swaying around like that. So Ash settled in a loop of lifting and lowering his gaze as Misty passed him by.

Around that time Misty's psyduck appeared out of nowhere, adorably fat and perpetually disoriented, and started doing laps with her. Her psyduck did it on foot however, so he would complete one lap at the same pace Misty completed seven or so. Psyduck ran holding his head with both of his wing-hands which wasn't too aerodynamic. Misty even told him so but Psyduck didn't listen, although she didn't really seem bothered by that; she was used to his buffoonery. Sometimes, when she passed next to Psyduck Misty would give it a pat on the head, and every time she'd do it Psyduck had to stop a few seconds to reincorporate from the hit.

Out of nowhere Ash got the urge to look at Misty as she was heading towards him. Psyduck was running clumsily and Misty was still some distance behind him. That's when the little water pokemon decided to stop and look back at his trainer. Psyduck saw Misty coming to pass him once more and suddenly thought of a great prank—or rather, what he thought of as a great prank. He placed himself right in the middle of the path, facing his trainer, at the same time she was heading towards him at a clearly dangerous speed, and Ash immediately thought of Psyduck as the deerling from his book. Ash had a rather cinematic view of the whole thing, it was as if he had sensed that something was going to happen and his eyes were directed exactly at the place where the terrible accident was about to take place. Misty had to react instantly and move out of the way at the last second in order to avoid hitting Psyduck, she could've fallen, it could've been a tragedy, but she managed to stay on the bike without making contact with her pokemon.

Misty knew very well that Psyduck wasn't the brightest fellow, but she also knew that he had a rather developed sense of morality, and he was definitely aware that he was carrying out an act of mischief. So she went for him with her palms aching to teach him some discipline, but stopped herself quickly when she sensed Ash's silent stare. It felt like she was telling a weird joke in front of her parents and her teacher. She realized that if she went off on her pokemon in front of Ash, it would become even harder to reach him, and to get him out of that dormant state.

During the short trip from Pallet Town to Cerulean, Misty noticed how Ash's senses seemed to sharpen, his eyebrows fell, his eyes lingered longer on things and seemed more analytical, his movements became more calculated and subdued, and overall he became more thoughtful. However, she also noticed a severe decline in his previously cheerful mood. They settled in Misty's house that same morning, she told him to rest and relax. Ash seemed unwilling to speak with her, and enough time passed in order for her to practically forget the sound of his voice. They had just gotten back from Pallet Town on the weekend and suddenly it felt like the week was almost gone, even though just a few hours had passed. When Misty sensed that he was awake enough she told him what had happened to him. Ash did not believe her.

"I told you. You died," she said bluntly, she wasn't able to say it in any other way. "We revived you but fifteen of you appeared as a result. Don't make me explain it again."

"Yeah, don't worry, you don't need to explain it again," he replied. "Actually, you don't have to tell me anything, but please don't lie to me."

He grabbed an old book from her shelf and then went outside very cuttingly and without saying a word. Such action coming from the easily-distracted idiot she knew and loved was particularly hard to believe for Misty, and it was quite an uncanny image to take in when she went to spy on him from afar. She stared at Ash Ketchum sitting quietly on a bench with his legs crossed, with a serious, almost worried expression on his face, reading a very thick book with no colorful drawings on its dark cover. Seeing him read was unnerving enough, and so it was hard for her to even think of him as Ash Ketchum.

Misty stopped thinking and looked at Ash. Of course he was looking away from her. He seemed to be deeply immersed into his book, but it didn't look like he was actually reading it, instead it looked like he was trying really hard to look like he was reading.

"What am I going to do with you?" she said to her psyduck, who was bracing for a serious scolding. "You are incorrigible."

Misty then turned to Ash and gave him a smile that he didn't see. She stared at him for a few seconds, sending him brash vibes, basically forcing him to turn to her, until he finally looked back and gave her a smile that seemed rather forced, and almost defiant. Misty was only happy to see that awkward expression on his face, it seemed like something the real Ash Ketchum would do. She knew that, regardless of whoever that person who was sitting there really was, there was something of Ash in him, and she would get it out of him in any way she could.

She walked nonchalantly holding Psyduck in her arms and went and sat right next to Ash.

"What are you reading?" she said.

"A mystery novel," Ash replied.

"Is it any good?"

"I've only just started it. It seems good I think."

Misty kept looking at him, Ash wasn't making eye contact.

"I didn't know you liked reading books."

"Me neither."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Huh?" Ash was left speechless. Both of them could sense some awkwardness accentuating, and Ash didn't know how to dissipate it.

"You seem different."

"…Yeah, I don't doubt that."

Misty didn't like the tone of that last remark. She wanted to grab him by the shoulders and start shaking him with violence, she wanted him to look and feel like she knew Ash Ketchum could look and feel. Something could be done about it, Misty was sure of it.

"Do you like my bike?"

"What? Yeah sure, it's awesome."

"Do you want to give it a try? It's way better than the one you and Pikachu destroyed."

"What? Oh yeah!" Memories came back to Ash effortlessly. He then remembered, clearly, when he needed to borrow a girl's bike to save Pikachu, back when he had just started his travels. His eyes glistened faintly, but with a distinct joyful spark.

"I do remember that!" He said, as he pointed at her with a smile on his face.

As he pointed at Misty, she recognized a trace of the Ash she knew, and then instead of relieved she became worried; something was definitely off about him. Maybe his subdued nature was a side effect from the revivification. Maybe some more time would be needed in order for him to go back to his usual self. The idea that she had picked the wrong Ash never crossed her mind, it didn't matter. That really didn't matter.

"You still haven't payed me for it," Misty playfully said.

"Well, if I don't explode at some point like you said I might, I'll pay you back for the bike, maybe," Ash replied.

Regardless of everything that had seemingly happened, Misty knew Ash was there with her, even if he wasn't the only one. Still, maybe there was some other reason as to why he seemed down. Because even though he felt like Ash, if just a little bit, he wasn't behaving like him, and Misty understandably saw that as a serious issue.

"So you do believe me?"

"I don't want to talk about that."

"Okay. So after all this time you still remember about my bike huh, very nice. What else do you remember?"

Ash's smile disappeared, Misty noticed it immediately.

"It's okay," she said.

"Is it?"

"Yeah, you just need time, and… so you like reading books now? I wouldn't have guessed it."

"Yeah, I mainly like that it gives me something to do, something to keep my mind occupied."

"I see, how many books have you read so far?"

"Well…" Ash suddenly flustered. "A, good, part of this one, and a few magazines."

"Aha, that's more like the Ash I know."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes?"

"Did you just insult me?"

"Yes," Misty said proudly.

Ash looked down, and Misty laughed rather spiritedly as she looked at him.

"You know, I was thinking that we could go surfing one of these days, like, today," she said. "I was planning to do that this week given that I've got some free time. I would like you to accompany me but you don't have to go. It would be a nice way to distract yourself, but you can just go to my house and watch tv all day instead."

"I wouldn't want to impose."

"What?" Misty stood up. "I can't believe you just said that! Now I'm starting to doubt if you really are Ash Ketchum at all. The real Ash wouldn't have said that. Never."

"What would I have said?"

"You would've raised your fist and agreed immediately, and then I would've told you to take it easy and be less insolent. But this time I promise I won't say that, because I actually care about what you want to do. You should just accept my offer now that I'm being nice to you, before you become annoying again. When that happens I probably won't stand you for too long, so you should accept my kindness now."

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course, all of it. I promised to take care of you anyway, and I'm going to do it. Now what would you like to do right now?"

"Um… I don't know, watching tv sounds great actually."

"Okay, surfing it is."

Half an hour later the two of them were facing the sparkling sea, with their naked feet leaving prints on the soft sand below them. They had gone to the beach with the best waves in the whole region, which was located nearby on Vermillion City, south of Cerulean. Ash was wearing a very tight wetsuit colored fluorescent green, which started on his ankles and covered everything above them except his face and his hands. He was sporting yellow swimming goggles already on his eyes, and was also wearing bright orange shorts over the suit. Because, actually, the wetsuit wasn't specifically tight, but rather skin-gripping—rather skin-gracing—too much it was almost asphyxiating, even if physically he didn't have any trouble breathing. Misty had picked his whole outfit herself and was currently containing a chuckle while standing next to him. She was wearing a much more subdued one-piece bathing suit which was no less attention-grabbing, albeit for different reasons, and she had a shortboard to her side while Ash held a training longboard to his side. She was an experienced surfer, he couldn't walk properly—his limbs felt gooey and weird. They looked at each other, and then they walked into the sea as the sun rose in front of them like coming out of the sea itself.

The water touched Ash's feet with a tenacious wave, it was delightfully warm. That simple contact was almost life-changing for him, it seemed to awake him somehow. Waves of bliss reached him gradually, coming in through his toes and going all the way to his stomach.

"Wait!" Misty said, when she noticed Ash eagerly walking into the sea. She knelt right next to him and tied the leash of the board to his right leg.

"Come to think of it," she said, "putting you on a leash would've been very useful when we were traveling together."

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means genius? It means you were dumb and really annoying. You're probably the most annoying person I know and I know a lot of people."

"Oh yeah? Well if I remember correctly, and I don't, but, I'm pretty sure you were at the least just as annoying as me."

"It doesn't matter because you don't remember. You said so yourself, so you'll just have to trust me. Come on."

Next to Misty, silently upset at her, Ash went into the sea carrying his comically large longboard on his arm, all the way until the water reached his chest. Then the two of them got on the boards.

"Remember your training," Misty said.

"What training?"

"You have done this before, many times actually. It doesn't matter if you have to separate your feet too much just to stay standing, right now all you care about is staying on the board."

"How will I know when to stand up?"

"I'll show you to the right spot, where we'll wait for the waves. You'll see it coming from behind as a lump, you'll start paddling, hard. It takes a lot of practice just to be able to predict the right moment when the wave gets good. But don't worry, if you don't catch it then the wave will break and fall on you. You can and should try to catch it that that stage, and let it lead you towards the beach."

Ash didn't really understand her, and after Misty's explanation, which at least sounded logical, he was more nervous than before. But he was fine overall, there was nothing to worry about and he had her to watch and learn. Misty led the two of them to a nice spot, where the shore was barely visible and it was turquoise sparkling all around them, quiet, soothing, and serene. Misty helped Ash lay centered on the board, which was already tricky without the waves and those were anything but helpful.

"Here comes one, this one's gonna break! Wait until that happens and then try to get up," she said. And then she began paddling very fast, so fast it startled Ash. She easily left him behind. He had to compensate by paddling faster and harder, his technique tired him more and wasn't as encompassing as hers; such was the stark difference in experience between them. He looked like a little herdier waving its limbs with all of its strength just to stay afloat on the water. The wave reached him, Misty was gone, she was probably there shredding it but out of his sight. Ash had trouble pushing, there was too much water, at first it felt nice but it quickly became tiring, then the wave broke. It fell right on his back, it felt nice again, forceful but not painful, like a massage. And then the wave helped him pushing forward just like Misty said it would, and Ash tried to stand up. He had gotten it, he knew how to do it. All that was left for him was to practice. He did a push-up, tucked his feet to the front and stood up, and stayed on the board for almost a full second which felt glorious. Then he fell off the board and tasted salt water. It clogged his mouth, nose and throat, it was hard for him to breath. It took him a lot of coughing and troubled breathing to go back to normal. Ash got back on his board and dry-heaved, he didn't even drink any water.

After he reincorporated and breathed normally again he thought to himself that it had been worth it. All of that, the travel to Cerulean, the travel to Vermillion, all of the time it took him to get into that awesome suit, all of that had been worth it just for that glorious second. Ash settled back in the right spot, he managed to see Misty shredding a very tall wave. His head turned from left to right as his eyes followed her every movement and focused really hard to avoid missing any of her by the incandescent flare from the sun, which instead adorned the sight of her by making the sea scintillate beautifully, with her in the middle of it. It was as if the water itself was enamored with Misty, and was making its best effort to help her cruise through it in the most awesome way possible. Right then Ash realized that, even if he only had a week left to live, he had found the perfect way to spend it, and the perfect person to spend it with.

A couple of waves later Ash wasn't feeling as confident as before, he had fallen both times without getting that glorious fraction of a second, and Misty wasn't doing that well herself.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, sitting on top of her board. "I didn't put enough wax on my board, how's yours."

"Mine's fine. The problem isn't the grip, it's me."

"Don't sweat it, you're doing way better than I was when I first started surfing."

"How old were you?"

"…Four."

"Yeah, I figured. Anyway I don't want to give up or anything. In fact I want to come back tomorrow and the day after."

"Beats watching tv all day for sure. I'm going to wax my board, I'll be right back."

Ash sat on his board, on the perfect spot in the middle of the ocean. It felt like the world was his, even if he sucked at surfing. Far from him there was another surfer seemingly more experienced than him shredding a tasty wave. Ash didn't mind him, in fact he didn't even turn to have a look and see who it was. He just stayed on his board swaying along with the ocean, gazing at Misty from afar. It was a nice view, and the beach looked cool too.

Once she was on the shore Misty turned to him and started waving. Ash waved back with a smile on his face, but Misty didn't stop, instead she began shouting something at him. Ash was just too far to be able to listen.

"What?" he shouted, and Misty kept shouting too, but Ash still couldn't listen. Right then a big wave pounded him from behind, sank him and pummeled him. It felt almost great, the ruthless way he was being handled by the sea. It led him all the way to the shore, where he ran aground half-conscious on his belly.

Misty turned him around and Ash slowly opened his eyes, and saw her, looking right at him with her big blue eyes. Her face, although clear, was covered in shade, and all around her in his field of vision heavenly flare from the sun accentuated her beauty. He had been truly awakened, he wanted more life. His throat was sore and he had difficulty breathing again, but it didn't matter, he was alive and he wanted more. All of the sudden Ash wanted to kiss her, he wanted to raise his head and kiss her right there. It would only take a second, one movement. But he couldn't move, he couldn't simply reach a few inches above him for a kiss. It was too sudden an urge, even for Ash Ketchum.

"Are you okay?" Somebody else said.

Ash got confused. Misty silently helped him get up. He saw a tall woman whose face was hidden by the shade produced by her big straw hat. She lifted the front and showed her pleasant smile to them.

"Yes, I'm fine," Ash said.

"It seems you missed the wave," the woman said. "Hi, I'm Roxanne."

"Hi Roxanne, I'm Misty, this is Ash."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"What? Um, no," Misty said, averting her eyes both from her and Ash.

Ash suddenly remembered the few occasions when somebody had asked Misty that same question, with him standing right next to her just like this time. She had been so quick to dismiss the idea that they could be together. He remembered very well that the mere implication that she would choose to be with somebody like him would make her irrationally angry. All in all, he was more than pleased with this new reaction from her.

"Ups! I'm sorry," Roxanne awkwardly replied, holding her palm in front of her mouth.

"It's fine, I've had to deal with that sort of question a lot," Misty said.

"Did you come to surf also?" Ash asked.

"No," Roxanne said. "I came for work. I'm a pokemon interpreter, and I just found a pokemon that could help me with a project I'm working on. I did bring him here to surf though, he really wanted to try it out. He's actually really good, you might have come by him out there. I'll signal him right now."

Roxanne raised her hand high and waved at the sea. Ash was so enthralled by Misty that he didn't notice what Misty did notice: Roxanne was very voluptuous. From the raging sea a giant wave appeared, and from the wave, as it was breaking and heading towards the beach, a small surfboard came into view at the very top of the wave. At first it was hard to notice who was shredding it. The wave ended and the surfer approached the shore still on top of the board, still riding with the current in a very cool manner. As he got closer both Ash and Misty noticed it was a pokemon, and, more than that, it was none other than Pikachu. Ash's own Pikachu shredding all the way to the shore, right to his trainer, who became more and more angry the closer Pikachu got to him.

"It was you!" Ash exclaimed. "You stole my strength! I knew something was wrong with me. Something went wrong during the procedure, and you took all of my ability and my energy. It's all your fault Pikachu!"

"What are you talking about?" Roxanne asked utterly confused.

Ash backtracked immediately. Any attempt to explain what had happened would fall dismally short of a plausible explanation.

"Um… He's my pokemon. Around a week ago we had an accident, and when we got better I decided to visit Cerulean City. Strangely I didn't have a lot of energy to get out, but apparently Pikachu did. I see he's been kind of busy."

"Oh dear, so you are Ash! And yes indeed, he has been busy," Roxanne said. "He's very energetic, really funny and talkative, and as you can see he's really good at surfing. I came upon him while on Cerulean too, we started talking and so here we are. I'm studying his communication patterns. You have raised him very well, extraordinarily so, I must say."

"Yeah, thanks," Ash said grumpily, as Pikachu cleaned some sand off his little surfboard. "Do you have anything to say?" Ash then asked his pokemon, who at the very least bothered to look at him for a few seconds before nodding negatively, slowly. But then Pikachu raised his tiny hand and pointed at his trainer, and then mumbled some sui generis nonsense at him.

"Oh dear," Roxanne exclaimed, "do you want me to translate what Pikachu said?"

Ash declined, but Misty insisted that she do so. Then Pikachu himself looked at Roxanne and urged her to communicate his thoughts.

"Pikachu basically said, 'You caught a nice wave out there,' but he said so with a rather sarcastic inflection."

"No, I got that," Ash said with restrained anger. "For your information Pikachu, I just started surfing today, so it isn't fair for you to judge me like that. You know you have a huge advantage too."

Pikachu then raised both hands and shook his head repeatedly in a very smug manner, with his eyes closed. He then mumbled more words from his vernacular with a very conceited tone. Roxanne cleared her throat.

"Pikachu said: That sounds like a bad excuse to conceal, to hide, the fact that you are… oh my, um… not good, at surfing," she said, or rather she interpreted.

"I told you," Ash said angrily, "I just started, so you can't know how good I can be yet. What do you know? What does a pikachu know about surfing anyway?"

"He says: I know that it doesn't matter how good you get, because you'll always be one step behind me. Face it, you've always been in my shadow," Roxanne said. She continued translating for Pikachu. And by the time she finished Ash was fuming.

"Seriously? What did I just say? You can't know that, because you don't know how good I'm gonna get with practice. This is my first time, you don't know how good I'm gonna be even a few days from now."

"It sounds like you're challenging me, baby—at least I think that's what he said, I don't think I got that correctly—I'll continue. Seriously, if a few days is all you need, I'm sure you wouldn't have trouble backing up your… words," Roxanne said.

"You bet I won't! A few days is all I need to beat you. I know you, that's what you're not taking into account Pikachu, I know you very well."

"I know you too, he said," Roxanne said. "I'll give you a week, a whole week, so you can get as good as you say you will. And we'll meet back here on Sunday."

At this, Ash hesitated. He had no idea if he would still be alive on Sunday. Meanwhile Misty, who until then had been thoroughly entertained by the proceedings, felt for both Ash and Pikachu. Maybe the latter couldn't quite grasp what the end of the week could signify for both of them.

"I have something else to do on Sunday, how about Saturday morning?" Ash asked.

"He says: I was just trying to give you more time to train, you will be crushed by the debris of your huge ego. I don't think I'm translating it well enough," Roxanne said, "Pikachu is saying all of this in a much better and cooler way."

"Come on Pikachu, we need to be together that day, so let's do it on Saturday."

"He says: Fine, oh, fine," Roxanne said, delighted. "Don't worry Ash, I'll take care of Pikachu for you while you train."

"Thanks Roxanne, I wish you luck. Pikachu has been a bit more restless since the incident."

With a smile on both of their faces, Pikachu and Roxanne turned back and walked away. Ash could taste Pikachu's insolence even from his back. Still, he felt much more sympathy than anything else for his dear pokemon. And if Pikachu had obtained all of that energy then there was no sense in wasting it by standing still, especially if all of that could end in only a few days.

"What did I just do?" Ash then said, having noticed the task that he had stubbornly put upon himself. "I have no idea of how to surf. I'm sure that if I go in the water again I will just die out there, but I don't want to lose. I guess if I had to lose to someone I'd want it to be Pikachu, but I still don't want losing to be the last thing that happens to me before I die. I've had enough of that in my lifetime."

"Then you shouldn't have challenged him to a contest," Misty said. "You saw him out there, didn't you? Pikachu is basically a pro, and you have no chance of beating him."

"Thanks Misty, but that's not what I need right now."

"Yes you do Ash. You need to face the facts so that you can set a realistic goal for yourself. You can get better, I agreed with you when you said no one could know how better you could get. I didn't agree with you when you very foolishly challenged him, but what are you gonna do, that's classic Ash for you, and that's a good thing I suppose. I'm sure I'll regret saying that in due time."

Before Misty finished Ash started walking away from the sea, with his longboard on his arm still tied to his ankle.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"I don't know, this is too much for me. I'm out."

Ash gave Misty what he thought was one last glance, and saw her walking towards him with her hand raised and a rather grave expression on her face. He put up his hands and managed to contain an imminent slap from her before she could make contact. His movements were very well timed and well placed, at least for someone in his disoriented state.

"You don't have to do that!" Ash said.

"Do you think I want to? I mean, I do, but I also feel like I have to. I have to slap you Ash. I have to knock some sense into you."

"Why?"

"Because you're not acting like yourself."

"That makes sense, I'm not myself. I'm not Ash Ketchum."

Misty lowered her hand.

"You look like Ash," she said. "You feel like him, you speak like him, you have his essence, and yet sometimes you aren't there. When I look at you I get the feeling that you're incomplete, but the part of you that is there, belongs to Ash Ketchum. That's who you are, and that's that. Now you have a very simple decision, do you want to give up or not? Look at me Ash, and tell me what you want to do."

Ash raised his head and gave her a good, hard look. He opened his mouth, and then closed it without saying anything and started walking away. Misty ran to him and grabbed his hand firmly, she pulled him violently towards her and then led him into the sea. She detached her own surfboard and attached Ash's longboard to her own leg and, when Ash sensed that he didn't really have a choice in the matter, he swam together with her all the way to the right spot in the middle of the ocean.

"Get on the board," Misty said.

"What?"

Misty growled, then without looking at Ash she got on the board herself.

"Come on, get in front of me, there's enough space for the two of us in here," she said.

Slightly confused, Ash looked at the space left on the longboard. Even with Misty laying on it there was still enough space for him to lay his whole body on it, so, after some hesitation, he hopped on and positioned himself straight.

"Here it comes," Misty said. "Start paddling now."

Ash turned around for a second, the wave behind them was much larger than any of the ones he had attempted to shred. Palpable fear reached every corner of his body, he had been shaken, pummeled and roughed up by all the milder waves he had tried to shred. And yet, more than anything beforehand, it was the fear that seemed to finally awaken him. Still Ash was afraid. He started paddling with great technique, at the right speed, extending his arms the right amount, and Misty noticed this. All of the sudden Ash felt the water level raising below him, it was something unlike anything he had felt before. He was moving his arms forward and backwards at the same time he was being elevated, cutting the air, feeling the cool morning breeze on his face; he was practically flying.

Suddenly Ash felt a light pressure on his lower back. He turned around right at the moment Misty was getting up on the board. She was actually much, much closer to him than he had first thought. The board was big enough for the two of them, but that was only if they snuggled very close together. Then Ash felt the board turning to his left, to where the bigger wave was taking form.

"Stand up," Misty said. "You have to do it now. It's easy, just hold on to me."

The fear had fully gone away, Ash was easily able to stand up with a push up and a quick jump, and then out of nowhere he was shredding the wave. It was glorious once more, until all of the sudden he started losing balance. It had been only a few seconds and it seemed more than enough, however he couldn't just fall off the board. No, not only would it have been yet another defeat, but his visceral reflexes called for him to find a way to stay on, and Misty was right there. Ash grabbed her shoulder, he managed to stay on for another second, but more importantly, he didn't take her down. Misty grabbed Ash's hand, then she grabbed him by the elbow, and then their arms were locked on each other and Ash was able to stay on the board longer.

Right then he was able to experience what shredding a tasty wave truly felt like. Below him the board cut through the water while he himself cut through the hazy air, and next to him a wall of water covered him whole and traveled along with him at the same time.

The tail of the wave approached them and attempted to swallow them from behind, the wave would break soon but Ash knew it didn't matter. He knew what being crushed and pummeled felt like, and it was a consequence immensely outweighed by its glorious reward. Ash was flying hand in hand with Misty, nothing else mattered, and he felt like himself. He really was Ash Ketchum, at least during that moment. Then the wave broke it was brought down upon them and consumed them. Ash wiped out, however Misty kept going on the board with the wave until it became only white water. Then she submerged and went for Ash.

She swiftly and energetically brought her head out of the water next to Ash, who was already floating pleasantly, smiling wide and vibrant. Her insides revolted at the sight of him. She had achieved her victory at seeing him so happy after all of that time, after all that had happened.

"That was awesome!" Ash shouted it firmly and full of joy.

"Yeah. So, what do you think, you think you can do that on your own?"

"I'm sure of it!"

Misty detached the leash on her leg, then submerged and attached it to Ash's. She gave him a warm pat on the shoulder that lasted quite a bit, then she went back to the shore, alone. She knew that was just what he needed, he was an adept learner. Still, she was kind of nervous and didn't knew exactly why. Maybe she just couldn't help it. All she wanted was for him to succeed, to stay on the board.

Ash seemed nervous too. He positioned himself on the right spot facing the beach, but he didn't dare to look at Misty. Some quiet, rather tense moments passed until a wave appeared, and then Ash began paddling fast and hard. He had the technique down. The wave ascended, he stopped paddling. For a moment he hesitated. But then he stood up, he pushed his arms, and brought his legs forward, and shredded the wave. And he did not only that, but he also managed to turn and ride some of it, enough to know he had it. As Ash swayed from side to side on Misty's point of view, she turned her head as her eyes followed him so sure of himself while the sparkling sea that she loved so much carried him with care all the way to the end of the wave. And then she was really proud of him. All that was left for him was to practice, he had all week to do so. She grabbed her own shortboard and went in.

Saturday morning arrived quickly. And it couldn't have been a more perfect morning for a not so friendly surfing contest. Warm, energizing sunlight falling straight down, smooth and without any condensed obstructions. Favorable wind manifested as as a delightful breeze which could only caress at its contact with skin. Numerous bathers and swimmers and their pokemon, all of them immersed on their own beach activities, enriching the atmosphere and livening up the proceedings. It truly was a perfect day for a nice shredding sesh, Ash and Misty thought, with their lightly tanned skin and their boards by their side.

That was, until Pikachu arrived, elegantly late by the way, and all the way from the other side of the beach. He was wearing a strictly unnecessary red speedo, pitch-black sunglasses, and was carrying his tiny yellow surfboard on his arm in a really cool way; Ash had to give him that. Behind him, Roxanne and another woman with a similar physique as her, both wearing bikinis, followed him diligently and thoroughly enjoyed, one at either side of him. Pikachu sure looked cocky and confident.

This time around Ash was wearing a fluorescent green wetsuit, bright yellow swimming goggles and bright orange shorts, his lucky outfit. His striking outfit also served well as a cautionary measure, as he was still a novice surfer and that day there were significantly more people around.

Pikachu reached his incredulous opponents, who had not stopped staring since they'd laid eyes on him at the other side of the beach. The little douchebag reached his hand to his tiny mouth, and let out a few noticeably mocking murmurs.

"Do you want me to translate?" Roxanne affably asked.

"Yes please," Misty replied.

"Ahem. Pikachu says: You look like a total kook. No, but seriously, in all of my time as a surfer I have never seen a kookier look than that, Ash."

"First of all," Ash replied, "you've only been surfing for a week. Second, thank you, that's the look I was going for."

Both Roxanne and the woman next to her shared a light laugh. Pikachu likewise burst into laughter.

"Are you sure you know what the word kook means in surfing lingo?" Roxanne asked on her own.

"Yeah, of course, it means a super cool guy," Ash said. He started speaking with confidence, which gradually disappeared as he continued talking, and realized everybody visibly disagreed. "A total expert at surfing. Doesn't it?"

"It doesn't. Sorry Ash, I lied to you," Misty said with a guilty inflection. Although in her face she was obviously happy. "It basically means you're lame."

"What! Are you serious Misty? How could you do this to me? I look like an idiot, I knew it!"

"Like a kook, more specifically," the woman next to Roxanne said.

"Hello, we haven't met before. Are you an interpreter too?" Ash asked.

"This is my sister Sheila, she's a breeder," Roxanne said

"Nice to meet you Sheila," Misty said. "Come on Ash, can you blame me?"

"I guess not. Whatever, let's just do this."

"Ready to lose baby boy?" Roxanne said, interpreting for Pikachu.

"I'm ready to shut your little mouth up," Ash said. Then he stared at his pokemon, with whom he had shared countless adventures, and who, in less than a week, had become his latest adversary to overcome.

They nodded decisively at one another as the three women around them observed silently and took the tense atmosphere in. The two life-long friends weren't joking around. Ash and Pikachu began walking side by side towards the beach, passing by some girls laying down on towels, who were sunbathing, at either side of them. They too could notice the intensity emanating from the two opponents heading for the beach, and so the girls lowered their sunglasses from their eyes and stared at the intense pair.

The water was warm and vibrant, it revitalized the two of them as soon as their bodies touched it. They walked all the way to the right spot, got on their boards, and proceeded to wait for the right wave fully focused, Ash in first position to take the wave.

Misty watched from the shore. Even from there she could feel the absolute silence heightening the already gripping tension. And also from there she could see, behind them, a giant wave violently approaching. As an experienced surfer she saw the tide, she knew the ensuing wave could only be handled by pros. Out of a hundred tries, Ash would only manage to shred a wave like that once, and even that out of pure luck.

Ash started paddling, it was his wave. Misty lamented he had chosen to go first. At least he had started paddling at the right time. She would've felt proud of him if she wasn't so worried instead. The wave grew and kept growing, it rose greatly taking Ash with it. But he wasn't scared, he was dead set on shredding it. Suddenly all the worry and fear left Misty and she was allowed to feel proud of him. But even that changed, and she was worried much, much more than before, when she saw that Pikachu had also started paddling, and was intending to steal the wave that rightly belonged to Ash in a shameless attempt to embarrass him further. 'That cheating little bastard,' she thought, filled with anger.

Ash was ready to fly again, he had abandoned himself to the wave. He was thoroughly focused, letting the wave carry him with it, and was about to rise and start shredding, when Pikachu cut him off already on his feet. He started shredding instead of him. First Ash felt so afraid that he almost fell off the board, but he stayed on, and then it was a vibrant and pure anger which overwhelmed him. That was clearly a dirty trick, Pikachu should've been disqualified but Ash knew he wouldn't even care.

Pikachu was shredding the wave with confidence, with a smug smile, very wide right on his shining face. That changed. A wandering staryu appeared out of nowhere being dragged with the wave. It was shot out of the current right at Pikachu's face, it hit him and then stuck to him and rendered the cocky wave-thief practically blind. And Ash thought it served him well, it was karmic justice with which there was no reason to interfere, until he saw where the giant wave was taking them, where it was leading to and where it would end. Right at a couple of kids innocently splashing each other. If Pikachu didn't stop—and he couldn't stop—he would end up hitting them directly and causing a terrible, maybe even tragic accident.

Ash knew the timing for him wasn't right anymore, the hungry tail of the wave was almost upon him. And yet it was in that moment, that the last part of him which was still asleep was finally awakened, and right then he felt like he had access to every one of his dexterous instincts. Suddenly he was completely focused on the imminent tragedy in front of him as if it was all that existed, and an overflowing charge of adrenaline allowed him to take charge of himself as well as everything around him with masterful ability. He stood up, he hopped on his board, and he shredded the wave. He struggled to stay on and the blue and white tail of water was violently closing in on him, ready to crush him and then sink him. And upon him was a blind Pikachu, his best friend about to crash into a couple of little kids. Even then in the verge of irredeemable disaster Ash knew he had to succeed. It was one of those situations where no other alternative was acceptable, everything but success signified death. Ash leveled himself, closed the distance between his feet just like Misty had taught him and stayed on the wave. In fact he shredded it, he escaped the tail, reached Pikachu, and with a powerful jump at the last second pushed him out of the wave's way, taking both surfboards with him before they could hit anyone. And they both went violently into the blue, and for a moment both of them lost consciousness, while the little kids kept safe and to themselves, entirely oblivious to the situation which had just enfolded.

The next thing Ash was able to experience was him falling on his back on the sand. Everything was spinning, everything hurt, and somebody was shouting at him. Slowly he regained his full consciousness, and the first thing he was able to see clearly was Misty's face. She was the one shouting at him, she was the one who had saved him. She looked just as beautiful as before, if not more. Her blue eyes shone brighter, the sunlight made her skin come alive.

"Is everyone okay?" Ash said faintly.

"Yes, you did it, again," Misty replied quickly. "Are you okay?"

As soon as he heard her Ash seized the moment. He pushed himself upwards with his arms and kissed her, finally feeling himself worthy. He just went for a peck, that would serve perfectly well as a victorious confession.

The kiss surprised Misty, but only for a few seconds. At first she thought Ash was looking to get some air, he might need oxygen. But that wasn't it, he was kissing her, and when she realized that, and finally believed it, she returned the kiss and grabbed him passionately by the back of the head, and didn't let go for a while.

"I don't want to go, I want to spend whatever time I have left with you," Ash said.

"I want you to stay with me here," Misty replied. "You can stay with me all you want."

"But, it's Saturday."

"It's been a week and you're still here. Trust me, you won't go. Not this week, not the next."

She helped him up and they hugged. There was no reason to let go so they wouldn't. But then Ash felt somebody poking his leg. It was Pikachu, and he had a more humble expression on his face. He spoke, and behind him Roxanne interpreted.

"I'm sorry I stole your wave bro. Thanks for saving me Ash, you're not a baby, and you're not a kook either. Today I was the kook, you win this one, clearly."

"Thanks Pikachu. You know, I've missed you a lot. And you had me there thinking I was about to lose you."

"Yeah, I know. I've missed you too. Want to go again next week?"

"You bet," Ash said in a more lively manner.

"Yeah, but next week you will also have to go against me," Misty added.

"What are you talking about? You'll be on my team," Ash said suggestively.

Misty feigned anger, Ash almost flinched, but then he smiled. And then Misty hugged him again and buried her head on his shoulder.

"Okay," she said.

Indeed, they had at least another week to live their lives together.

The two couples said goodbye and went their separate ways, while on the ocean the tide went in, and then went out. Then went in, then went out.


	6. Darkness Dwells In Sinnoh

**A couple of things I wanted to add very quickly. I pretty much based the Old Chateau on the version of the games and even Pokemon Generations, so there's that. And also I'm not sure if it seems clear that every Ash only has his respective Pikachu with him. The rest of his pokemon stayed in Kanto, because only Pikachu was part of the reviving process. So anyway I just wanted to add that. Thanks for reading.**

* * *

Eterna Forest, Sinnoh, one week after the first incident. Remaining Ashs: 13.

So, two Ashs had exploded so far. Who knows what the first one would have gone on to become, had he not spontaneously exploded in front of all the women, who missed Ash so much they had to try and bring him back from the dead. But the second Ash, for whom Sophocles had reluctantly agreed to care, without a doubt, would have gone on to become his best friend ever, had he not exploded as well of course. Sophocles and that Ash would have traveled all around the globe tasting the best meals the world had to offer. And Sophocles would have developed feelings of attraction for his own Ash. Yes, although not quite the same kind of feelings as the girls had developed long before Ash's spirit left the planet, perhaps not the most romantic, ready-for-marriage kind of feelings; it was just that Ash's showmanship, his drenching charisma, his effervescent loquacity, were simply too powerful to resist. He had been granted the capacity to become the most enjoyable guy to be around. His company could be a delight that every single person would enjoy.

But that's the thing. Now there were thirteen of him in this particular universe, and even if all of them had the capacity to become the most charismatic or the most aware guy, that didn't mean any of them would be able to develop those qualities to their best conclusions. Besides, the Ash of Sophocles had exploded, so it doesn't matter how plump and jolly he would've become, seeing as that would never happen.

Meanwhile, Dawn had taken her very much alive Ash back to her home region of Sinnoh, and they arrived there on the same day that the second incident occurred.

Three days later it was Wednesday and they had settled into a sort of routine. While looking for a nice place to stay inside the Eterna Forest, they stumbled upon the Old Chateau, a long-abandoned manor which was haunted by many ghosts. Being brave trainers always ready for a challenge—and also looking for a firm set of walls and roof over their heads to protect them during the night, regardless of how sad and decayed said walls and roof were—they decided to make that awful and scary place their temporary home. The inhabiting ghosts were a nuisance and a subtle threat that never went away, but they were much more keen on scaring gullible visitors than battling experienced trainers, and Ash and Dawn had each other to take care of themselves, so at least during that time the ghosts weren't a problem.

And so they settled into transient periods of being angry at each other, because the Ash that Dawn had chosen turned out to be the mean one.

Ash lurked inside the darkened walls of the mansion, among the roaming ghosts who knew better than to disturb his brooding wander; they could see clearly that his mind was troubled. Dawn had explained the whole situation after they'd had their first meal on the region, and it just made so much sense to him. This was a different Ash, and he just knew he didn't have long left in this world. During the revivification process, he had been so unfortunate to obtain a side of Ash which could only make him bitter, and for this he deserved everyone's pity. Through his mind flashed bleak moments of silence, his face down, looking at the ground as the cap on his head hid his eyes from the world, and he called his unconscious pokemon back from the battle that had ended. The names of those in front of him, Harrison, Tyson, Cameron, Tobias, Ritchie, Alain; he had gotten the fall but not the recovery; he had obtained the defeats. That's all Ash could think about, the images of his losses played on repeat in his mind, without the moment that always came right afterwards, when his own overflowing spirit would override the taste of failure and fill him with hope to try again next time.

He went and sat right outside the mansion, on one of the rusted chairs covered in vines that were still on the garden. He kept his despairing thoughts a secret from Dawn. He just let them play and break him further. At the very least he had gotten Ash Ketchum's fortitude along with the memory of his defeats, so he could withstand the constant negativity adequately enough. He was sitting all serious and morose when Piplup approached him and started pecking his hands. The hard contact of his tiny beak with Ash's skin and bones felt particularly weird considering how soft and plushy Piplup's body looked. The adorable blue pokemon looked so cheerful and upbeat that he seemed to belong to an entirely different universe than Ash's brooding silence.

Dawn was carefully observing the scene from afar. Seeing as Ash was kind of mean to her whenever they spoke she was comfortable staying away, but with Piplup bothering him she knew she'd have to approach and talk to him again. And so she went to get her pokemon.

Piplup was surprised when Dawn's hands caught him from behind and lifted him by his belly. He tried to escape but it was of no use whatsoever, and he resigned himself to remain in Dawn's hold when she placed him to her chest and put her arms around him.

"Hey, so living out here is kind of hard, isn't it?" She said to Ash while standing in front of him. "This morning I had the hair of a crazy woman, thankfully I have Piplup here and so I can wash it and groom it whenever I need to using his Bubblebeam. How does it look?"

Dawn turned her head from left to right with vigor, making her voluminous hair flow beautifully as if it were alive from one side to the other.

It was quite a striking sight for Ash, who not only had Dawn swaying delightfully in front of him with a smile on her face, but also had the very dense and healthy nature as well as the clear morning sky behind her as the perfect backdrop.

"Yeah, your hair truly looks beautiful. Mesmerizing, actually," Ash said calmly, sort of unimpressed. "But you still have the hair of a crazy woman, because you are one." Ash then stood up. "I have to pee," he said. He then walked away.

Dawn was utterly shocked, once again. In fact she was so shocked that she couldn't move a single muscle or think a concrete word. That had happened quite a few times already during those three days. She just had to stay there like a statue for a while. Not only had she just been insulted by the guy she liked, right to her face, but he had also been rather disrespectful, gross, and such words had sounded so strange coming out of his mouth, that the effect was simply paralyzing. Dawn knew she didn't have any reason to deal with such insolence, and that kind of informality didn't sit well with her at all. She just didn't like it, it was chiefly a deal-breaker. At the same time, there was just a hint of Ash Ketchum's irreverence in that jerk's tone. It was hard for Dawn to admit it, but the truth was that she was still attracted to that guy, whoever he was, and she almost hated herself for it, for falling for an Ash like him. Surely there were much better Ashs out there, she could easily have gotten one that could act like he cared about her. There were fourteen of him to choose from, but that's the one she had gone for, the one she had fallen for.

Still, Dawn knew that just because she liked him she didn't deserve to take any of his insolence, because being in love didn't mean she had to stop being a reasonable person.

Ash came back and sat on the chair nonchalantly. Dawn hadn't moved an inch and so she was still standing in front of him, now fresh off being called a crazy woman.

"You should be nicer, unless what you want is to end up alone," she said to Ash. "Not even Pikachu will stand your snarky attitude for too long if you keep it up."

"Ha, it's clear you don't know me or Pikachu at all," Ash said.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll show you. Pikachu!"

Out of a corner of the mansion appeared Pikachu, with his little arms crossed and his visibly displeased lips making a chubby pout.

"Come here!" Ash exclaimed.

Pikachu marched towards his trainer keeping his chagrin intact, making his little hands into round fists that he waved forward and backwards as he went. Ash then picked him up, from behind by his sides, just like Dawn had picked Piplup up earlier. Then Ash lifted his pokemon and put him right in front of Dawn's face.

"Look at him, look at this face," he said.

Dawn did as Ash said, and stared at Pikachu right in front of her. Effectively he looked just as dispirited and morose as his trainer. But he looked so cute with his angry pout, his tiny round eyes which Dawn thought were so disarming she could never take them seriously. She just couldn't resist putting Piplup down and then grabbing Pikachu to give him an effusive, asphyxiating hug. She lovingly roughed him up in her arms just for a few seconds, which for Pikachu was way too long and so he prepared to electrocute her. Ash stood up and hurried to snatch Pikachu away from Dawn's arms with as much violence as it was needed, and so it was he who received the entirety of the ensuing electric discharge from his pokemon.

"Ash! I'm sorry, are you okay?" Unscathed, Dawn asked. "I didn't mean to upset Pikachu. It's just, did you see his lovely face?"

"Of course I did, and it was obvious to me that he's angry."

"Why is he so mad?"

Ash looked away for a second.

"Ha, as if he needs a reason," he said.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself. Thank you for saving me."

"No problem, it's completely fine actually. But, since I did save you, and ended up taking the hit that was meant for you, and given that you're so thankful—given all of that—how do you feel about making something to eat?"

Dawn's awkward smile disappeared and then she was mad like the two of them. But then she smiled again just for herself.

"Actually, I was thinking of going to the mall. What do you think? We can buy something yummy to eat there."

"Pass," Ash hurried to say.

"Come on, aren't you tired of cooking your own food here? I'll pay, and I'll let you get whatever you want too, just for saving me."

Ash pretended to think about it for a few seconds.

Half an hour later they were cruising through the giant mall on Jubilife City, together like a couple, though in actuality they didn't feel very close to one another. The whole place was filled with light and there were many people around. Dawn forced Ash to check out a clothing store, and once they were in there she started trying on glasses. She picked up a pair fitting for a sober librarian and put them on.

"Do these make me look smart?" she asked Ash.

"You already looked very smart without them," he said, surprising her. "Too smart, I'd say. So no, those don't make you look smart, they actually make you look dumber."

Dawn's eyebrows, which had been raised, fell, once more to the height she was used to sporting when she talked to Ash. She never knew what to say after his nuanced comments. Dawn simply took off the glasses and then put her raised index finger in front of Ash's face, and waved it negatively. Then she went looking for other things.

That whole scene had been witnessed by none other than Paul, friend of both Ash and Dawn, whom they had gotten to know rather well during their times of traveling together through Sinnoh. Paul didn't exactly like Dawn, but seeing as she was so confident and lively, her smile was so eye-catching and all of that and more made her just so magnetic, he couldn't help but think of Ash as his mortal enemy right there and then.

"Oh hey Paul, it's nice to see you here I guess," Ash casually said. "At least now I don't have to wonder if you're dead or not. I don't think I would've wondered that because I don't really think about you, but it's kind of okay to know that now I don't have to, because I can see that you're not dead, yet."

"Shut up Ash," Paul said. He then grabbed Ash by the collar with both of his hands, just as he made sure Dawn wasn't looking at them. He pulled Ash up to his menacing face, and made sure he was staring right at Paul's dead eyes full of anger.

"I had stopped talking," Ash said calmly, "but okay. I'll shut up, but only because you told me to."

"Why did you say that to Dawn? Are you stupid?"

Ash didn't respond.

"Answer me!"

"But you told me to shut up."

"Agh! I hate you. You should treat her right."

"Why do you care so much?"

"Well," Paul hesitated, "clearly because I am jealous. So you have to stop being such a jerk."

"You being jealous is not a good reason for me to stop, in fact it seems like that's your problem. The state of your feelings isn't my responsibility. Now could you please release me from the hold of your arms?"

"Hey man! Did you hit your head or something? You're acting like a tool."

"Worse, I died actually. But it's cool now, and I seem fine to me. Apparently you only need to be sad for a while to realize that very little things actually matter. That's great, you know, if I knew being sad was this enlightening I would have lost even more battles during my career, in order to become very sad much quicker, like you."

Paul looked at Ash for one silent second. "I feel like you really want me to punch you in the face right now," he said.

"What are you going to do huh, punch me in the face?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I said."

"I see, that's unfortunate, especially considering that Dawn wouldn't really like that, now would she?"

Paul showed his teeth, he didn't let go of Ash. He wasn't exactly mad, it was more like Paul knew it was his duty to rough Ash up, for not only having a chance with Dawn, but also for wasting it by treating her badly.

"Hey, I told her she was very smart, it was a compliment," Ash continued. "Also it seems like she's coming by, hey, what if I tell her that you're trying to steal money from me? How do you think she'd react?"

"Ash, why are you acting this way? I would've never let you treat me like this before."

"I guess death does make a difference."

"You're crazy. Crap, she's coming." Paul released Ash with an aggressive push, with just enough force to make sure he understood Paul was pissed. "Treat her well, or I'll come for you, I'm serious."

"Yes sir," Ash said, still very casually. And then Paul sneaked away before Dawn got to Ash.

"Hey, do you think Paul will tell anyone that we were here?" Dawn said.

"You saw him?"

"Of course I did, I'm not blind."

"Anyway, why does it matter if he tells anyone that we're here?" Ash asked.

Dawn closed her eyes, and made a sassy pout with her lips. That funny expression lasted for quite a while on her face.

"To be honest, I haven't told my mom I brought you here," she said. "She knows all about what happened, but she thinks I'm still in Kanto. That's why I can't go home and we have to stay in the Old Chateau instead."

"Why haven't you told her?"

Dawn made the same sassy expression, and she waited even more time to reply this time.

"Um, well, I lost my last two contests. In one I was the runner-up, in the other one I reached the semifinals. And I was supposed to come back to train for my next contest, but, I don't want to."

"You don't want to enter the contest?"

"No, I do want to enter. What I don't want to do is to train. My mom has a very rigorous regime. It's very effective but I'm trying to delay starting it again as much as I can. During my training with her she puts me on a diet too. She doesn't watch my weight or anything, but she says it's good to build discipline."

"That's still a bit too strict for me."

"I don't know. If I'm going to prepare for the contest I should go all the way. I don't do it all the time, but if I'm going to do it I should do it right. And I do want to enter the contest. That's another reason why I wanted to come here today. I want to find a new dress. I have one picked out already, come, I want to show it to you."

Ash kept his mouth shut and followed Dawn diligently. He then waited patiently as she put on the dress and came out to show it to Ash. Of course it was pink, pink was her favorite color. The skirt had a few layers to it that looked like cake frosting. It had two ribbons, one at the waist and one in front of her chest. The shoulders looked puffy like marshmallows and she had long gloves which almost reached them.

"Do I look good in this?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, you look beautiful," Ash replied. And Dawn wasn't surprised anymore.

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"I just don't think I look good."

"Really?" Ash said mildly astonished.

"No, I mean the dress is fine. It's beautiful. It's just me, I don't know," Dawn said as she checked herself out in the mirrors, with a serious, almost worried expression on her face.

"You don't think you're attractive? That's unfortunate," he replied. "Then it's a good thing that you're pretty and smart, because you have terrible taste, if that's what you think about yourself, I mean."

Dawn was way too startled. That sounded too much like a compliment not to be taken aback by it.

"Thank you?"

"You're welcome," Ash said pleased with himself.

"It's just," Dawn said, "it's hard to think of yourself in first person when you know there are other people looking at you, you know."

"Right."

"I can notice girls staring at me when I wear dresses for contests, even without looking at them. I'm sure they talk about me behind my back."

"They most certainly do, for sure," Ash said nonchalantly. "But you look great, I mean you really do. I'm not the most fashionable guy, but I can tell that there's literally nothing wrong with the way you look, and I know you look good because it's pleasant to stare at you. It's quite pleasant. There's really nothing wrong with you. So if people strive to find a way to criticize your appearance then they only do so because they don't like the way they look. They are so insecure about their own appearance that they can't help but talk about themselves as if they are talking about someone else, and you just happen to be in their sight. Take it from me, we are all the same. Literally the same. There's nothing different about any of us whatsoever. Every attempt to stand out from the rest and be unique has already been tried out millions and millions of times in the past by others just like you. It may seem like there's thirteen of me right now, but the truth is that there's billions and billions, and they are all me, and I am all of them. So when you criticize someone, you're really criticizing yourself. And it's almost better not to know this, because, when you find out just how mean and stupid you can be, it hurts. And that's not other people that are mean and stupid, that's you. And me, and all of us. And we're all stupid and mean, and ignorant, as well as all the good and positive stuff that I don't want to mention cause I'm petty and vindictive. But honestly, it's great that we can talk about each other as if we are better than others, because thinking that we are better, or at least different from the rest, feels great. It just feels good to think we're better than others, and I'm glad that we can do that, even if we're lying to ourselves when we do that, because the truth is just suffering. So anyway, you look fantastic, you could be a model, except that you actually have brains and a personality. It's a shame that you complain too much."

"I have to go," Dawn said.

"What? For what? What did I say?"

"You say a lot of stuff Ash, I just don't understand you."

Dawn walked away. She made her way through the store still wearing the dress, and then she actually left the store. She had bought many dresses there, and the owner knew Dawn's mom personally, so the attendants didn't think much of her just leaving like that.

She continued walking and thinking, more than anything she was confused. That dude was clearly Ash but he was also a complete tool. She could sense some pain in him and she wanted to help him heal, but all the while he was being very annoying and his snarky, quasi-insightful comments could be kind of hurtful, and she knew she didn't have to deal with any of that. Ash ran after her, telling her to stop.

"Dawn, I'm sorry, I was just joking around," Ash said. "I didn't mean it. I cannot just compliment you. I can't say it like that. I remember, when girls would ask me to comment on the way they looked, I'd simply say they looked great without really taking their feelings into account, just telling it like I saw it. But now I know the kind of feelings people can have, and so I can't just say that you look great without adding something mean to sound less vulnerable, it's, it's hard. That's why people are mean you know, it's hard not to be."

When she was smothering Pikachu and he almost electrocuted her, Ash stepped in. He not only saved her but he took the hit as well. He cared about her. If he didn't care about her he wouldn't have bothered to save her.

"That's a great excuse to be mean," Dawn said. She stopped walking and turned to Ash, who stopped some distance away from her. "How do I know you're not joking with me right now? Maybe you're in the middle of one of your snarky comments which always start in a nice way."

"Uh, no, that's pretty much all I had to say."

"Do you like me?" Dawn asked firmly.

"What's that?"

"Do you…" she said, looking straight at him, "…like me?"

"Um, well, you see here. I'm just a carbon copy, my feelings don't really matter, do they?"

"Why would you say that now? After all you've already said. Just tell me."

But Ash hesitated. As it turned out, yet another thing that he had acquired from the one Ash Ketchum, was his crippling aversion to the prospect of real romance. Perhaps, this Ash was the most unfortunate of them all, except for the ones who had exploded. It was easy to joke around when he didn't have to take things seriously. There was no need to think about his future if he thought he didn't have one. Nevertheless, Ash was about to say yes, when a pack of bibarel gathered around Dawn, and stared at her with their dull eyes, somehow vibrant and yet so simple. Then a couple of duskull and a little chingling appeared and started floating above her too.

"What's going on?" Ash said instead.

"I have no idea," Dawn replied, as she raised her hands and stayed alert while pokemon kept gathering around her.

"I can explain," said Professor Rowan, Sinnoh's leading scientist. He was in his sixties, he had a mustache, and he looked like he was mad all the time, although that wasn't always the case.

He arrived to Dawn rather agitated and short of breath. He knew both her and Ash. He was one of the few people who knew Ash but hadn't found out about what had happened in Alola, let alone that his friends had tried to bring him back. So he wasn't that close with Ash, but he was with Dawn, who had worked as an assistant on his laboratory a few times.

"I'm so glad I caught you here Dawn," the professor said. "Paul was kind enough to notify me of your whereabouts just a few minutes ago."

"Shoot, so he did snitch," Dawn said.

"I guess so," Ash replied.

"And Ash is visiting too, this is great news," the professor said innocently.

"Yeah, you could say I'm on vacation. How are you doing professor?"

"Not great Ash, as you can see I have a lot of pokemon with me. They all just lost their home."

"What? What happened?"

"I'll tell you about the current situation. As you know there are four important lakes in Sinnoh. Three of them, Lake Valor, Lake Verity and Lake acuity, are protected by the region and so nobody can buy them or disturb their ecology in any way. But the fourth lake, Sendoff Spring, isn't protected, as such it has been bought by a big corporation, which has decided to turn the zone into a five-star hotel. Thankfully, they were forced to find an appropriate place to relocate most of the pokemon that lived there. However, there were some neighboring pokemon that were left with no source of water nearby, and so they can't remain there, and the corporation doesn't have to do anything about them."

"And so you want Dawn to help you find a new home for these pokemon," Ash said.

"Yes, that's exactly right Ash."

"Wait, no! They already have a home," Dawn said. "And we need to stop those evil people from building a hotel upon it."

"I'm afraid that's impossible, they've already begun."

"But that's not fair professor, why did you let them do that?"

"There was nothing I could do. The place was bought fairly I presume, and as I said that lake wasn't under the region's protection. To tell you the truth that place wasn't very liked in general. The pokemon that lived there were but a few, thank goodness. The most affected ones who have no home at the moment are some of those who used to dwell inside the Turnback Cave."

"But surely there must be something we can do still, right Ash?"

"I don't think so. As the professor said the land was bought fairly."

As she looked at Ash, Dawn's eyes lost some of their shine. The last remaining image she had of him shattered, dimming her spirit.

"I can't believe you just said that," she said to him. "That's not what Ash would say."

"Really? What would Ash say at a moment like this?"

"That there must be something we can do! And that we must do that something right now!"

"I'm sorry Dawn," the professor interjected, "our only solution is to find these pokemon a new home."

"Yeah, I agree with the professor," Ash said. "If only we had the real Ash Ketchum here. He could probably solve this situation in an instant, just by snapping his fingers, with a magic trick."

The professor thought of Ash's acid remark as just a joke. But Dawn knew better, he was simply being his usual kind of mean. She said nothing to either of those men, she simply showed them her upset face, and then turned back and walked away with all of the homeless pokemon by her side. They all sensed she was the moral victor of their exchange, she was the one to root for. As she was still wearing the dress, she looked like a princess from a fairy tale, with all the unusual members of her court walking next to her as her royal escort.

"So, Ash, do you have any idea of where these pokemon could stay?" the professor asked.

"Actually, I might just have a place," Ash said. Then he smiled subtly, almost mischievously. "Let me see what I can do."

Ash had himself a nice walk through the gloomy forest full of shadows, it was getting late. Pikachu joined him at the half-point between the entrance and the Old Chateau. Nobody dared to bother either of them. Ash had built a wall of resentment upon himself, it was not very healthy, it was sour, isolating and aggravating, but it was still a wall. The pokemon hidden within the bushes and trees, peering with their curious eyes, could sense a strength born out of spite emanating from the pair. Ash was so good he could harness power out of any source he could find, regardless of how malign it could be.

The Old Chateau rested in front of him, grim and melancholic. He walked in through the main doors which were already open for him. His body left barely a shadow on the floor as he entered, delineated by the faltering orange of the evening to come. He stood in the middle of the room with his committed companion by his side. The spirit of Ash Ketchum had settled itself on him the moment he decided to act; out of hatred, out of resentment, he decided to act. Three pairs of eyes were staring down at him, he knew this well.

The chairs and the table on the next room started floating, being carried by a gray haze. The portrait of the sober-looking gentleman on the main room started laughing maniacally. The silverware on the kitchen started clanking loudly and with violence. And yet both Ash and Pikachu remained undeterred to it all. They didn't move one inch.

Slowly the three ghosts condensed right in front of him. Gengar, Haunter and Ghastly, the three of them thought Ash was no fun at all. He didn't scare so they didn't like him. They didn't like him and he was alone. More ghosts condensed around him, most of them Ghastly along with some Haunter, all of them smiling with exhilarating madness in their eyes. They were glad he had dared to step in there alone.

Ash didn't know how to bring it up. He took a good look at all of them. Even if every single one of them occupied its own room on the mansion, there would be plenty of rooms and space left. The garden outside was vast and healthily green, with a creek nearby to keep it alive, and powerful enough to serve as a reliable source of water on its own. The only reason that place wasn't already full of jolly little pokemon was the presence of an apex predator who lived only to scare and to cause discomfort. Gengar had that whole place to himself, he could do as he pleased, all because that's how the food chain worked. That's how it had always worked, how it would always work. Ash would never be strong enough to break it.

But he would still try.

Ash locked eyes with Pikachu. A life of defeat was all they recognized. The odds were against them but that didn't matter; they were angry.

Gengar took a confident step backwards, and in front of him a lot of Haunter and Ghastly eager for mayhem stepped forward from either side of him, all towards Ash and Pikachu.

Pikachu's first Thunder was strident, it filled the whole place in yellow light for a couple of seconds, but failed to hit a single ghost. They were fighting in their home turf. Myriads of black spheres oozing purple gas danced around the duo, as if many balls had been chaotically released into a single pinball machine. While Pikachu struggled to evade pulsating marbles filled with dark energy the ghosts started throwing furniture at Ash. He dodged a chair that broke into pieces at contact with the ground. A table almost flattened him. A rug covered his head and then a chair hit him on the shoulder and sent him to the ground. Pikachu screamed and got in front of him. Ash angrily took the rug off of him and stood up, he knew he couldn't get out of the house. If he did the ghosts would never leave. The windows broke, the ghosts thought Ash would care. Instead he told Pikachu to attack. If you allowed him to fail once you shouldn't give him a chance to try again. His second thunder roared, uncovering every corner of the place with light. Myriads of spheres with eyes closed fell on the floor.

The ghosts stopped their dance for a moment. They realized who they were dealing with and then they were enraged. They released ghoulish cries with mouths open supernaturally wide. And they didn't stop shouting as they continued their attack. More furniture flew. Ash put his arms in front of his head and made his hands into fists. He couldn't win. He could never win. Every time, every alternative he thought off, led to defeat. Pikachu called more roaring thunders out of himself and more ghosts fell on the floor, with their eyes closed and in pain, their smiles erased.

But there were too many.

Too many for a single pokemon to take on.

More chairs broke on Ash's arms though he managed to keep his face unharmed. Then a sofa sent him to the ground. Pikachu kept fainting ghosts with electricity but after receiving three Shadow Balls directly he was about to pass out. The ghosts kept screaming.

More windows broke, their cries were heard all over the forest. Everyone on it knew that the wrath of the ghosts had been brought forth.

"Stop," Ash said softly from the ground.

The ghosts continued their mayhem.

"Stop!" Ash growled.

The ghosts listened this time, and his anguish made them happy.

There he was again. He could taste the defeat on the tip of his tortured tongue. He closed his eyes and faces came to him immediately. Ritchie, Tyson, Harrison, Tobias, Cameron, Alain. Blaine, Whitney, Brawley. The faces didn't stop coming to him. He wanted to stand tall above them all. Above all of them, not just the ones who had defeated them, all of them. Every single champion, every single rich guy who thought they could just buy a lake and leave a bunch of pokemon without a home. There was no way to stop them.

There was no way for him to win.

"STOOOOP!" he shouted loud. The birds from the nearby trees were ruffled and flew away.

But the ghoulish shouting didn't stop. Ash opened his eyes and saw Gengar's face right above him. He was smiling wide with a mocking grin on the left side of his mouth, his red eyes had zero empathy and he was thoroughly enjoyed.

Screw him, Ash thought. Screw them all. He was exhausted, but he stood up, and looked at Gengar right in the face. The rest of the ghosts stopped, Pikachu was down on the ground bruised and battered, but he had enough energy to stand up and go to his trainer. Then the ghoulish screaming resumed and Gengar laughed on Ash's face. But, once more, Ash and Pikachu were undeterred. The ghosts screamed louder, they swaggered on the air while Gengar shouted in front of them.

"Doesn't matter," Ash said. "It doesn't matter. You know why?"

Gengar stopped laughing and listened attentively for a second.

"I'll come back. Because I will come back, again, again, and again. And I won't stop coming back until I manage to beat you."

His words angered Gengar greatly. He shouted even louder and the rest of the ghosts swaggered harder behind him, but there was nothing that they could do to kill Ash's resolve.

"Ash?"

Ash turned around, it was Dawn. She had Piplup and her Togekiss standing by her side, it was dark outside. The light from the moon made her eyes glisten of a beautiful clear blue.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" she said.

"I had to do this alone."

"No you didn't. Oh, you idiot."

"Yes I did." Ash said firmly. "I had to do this alone, I'm sorry."

They looked at each other for a second, it was completely dark outside. The ghosts were very confused.

"And I did it," Ash continued. "This is what I chose to do and I feel like myself again. And I don't know if I ruined things between us by doing this, but I have to tell you that I really, really like you."

"Do you mean it?"

"Yes."

"Well," Dawn said, hesitantly, "let's get you out of here because I want to hear you say that again."

Dawn stepped forward, with her two pokemon following decisively behind her. At this Gengar hesitated and couldn't help but retreat a couple of steps. One trainer was easy, regardless of how many pokemon he had. That's what Gengar and his crew had always thought. But then the smiling ghost looked behind him and saw that his forces had diminished considerably from Ash's individual assault. He raged internally, that place belonged to him because he had taken it by force. He had traumatized countless explorers filled with curiosity. And it had been so easy for so long, he wouldn't leave without a fight.

"Togekiss! Use Psychic!" Dawn shouted. Togekiss released a curious chant that Gengar managed to feel in his mind. His purple body was covered in a pink glow that seemed to cage him and constrict his movements. Then he felt the pull of the attack, and began crying loudly from it.

The rest of the ghosts went for Togekiss. Their Shadow Balls went through her and she didn't feel them. But then the ghosts caught on her act and prepared their super effective poison attacks.

At this Piplup and the convalescent Pikachu jumped forward.

"Pikachu!" shouted Ash, "defend Togekiss!"

"Piplup, use Bubblebeam!" Dawn shouted.

And so the many ghosts were restrained with thunder and bubbles, and no poison reached Togekiss as she kept Gengar suspended in the air and made him cry.

And so, Gengar fell on his rear, and sat on the ground. Even though he kept his smile—in fact he couldn't change his expression, that was just his face—his eyes did change. Ash noticed the same sentiment he felt on Gengar's scornful stare filled with resentment, it made it clear that he had been defeated.

"I know we may be asking too much of you Gengar," Ash said. "But we need you to share your home. There are many pokemon who have nowhere to live, and the majority of them are ghosts."

Gengar grunted as he looked at the ground.

"Perhaps we can make a deal," Dawn said. "I know that if you cooperate with us the professor will be very grateful. We can get you all the food you want, experienced trainers to battle whenever you feel like it, as well as more items that you'd want."

Gengar kept staring at the ground. It was obvious he wasn't interested in anything Dawn was offering.

"I think I know what the problem is," Ash said. "Ever since we got here Gengar has been trying to scare us, but he just can't do it. We already knew he was here waiting for us even before we entered the forest. At this point everyone knows that Gengar lives in the Old Chateau, and they are all aware that he likes to scare people. So he can't really do it anymore." Ash smiled with his mouth closed, he remained thoughtful for a moment. Ash was so good he could find a good use even for resentment. "But what if I told you there's a place, a new place, for you to scare people. A place where they won't see it coming. A place were you, as a ghost, will be able to live and thrive, scaring as many people as you want."

Gengar raised his head and looked at Ash, his eyes were shining brightly.

"What place are you talking about Ash?" Dawn asked.

"A place where people think they can get away with doing whatever they want. But not if we have something to say about it."

Ash looked at Dawn. She got it, and then she smiled too.

Just an hour later. On Southeast Sinnoh, near Veilstone City in the dark of night, two men in suits with too much grease in their hair stood upon a platform. They were surrounded by a bunch of large machinery. It was all turned off, the construction workers were done for the day. The foundations for the hotel had already been built. That place would soon stop being called Sendoff Spring.

"I can't believe we got the whole lake for us, you're a ruthless businessman Freddy," said one of them.

"Thanks Jake," said the other.

"It almost seems like it should be illegal for us to hoard all this land just to ourselves."

"Hey, don't even talk about that. We had to find another place for those pesky beasts to live in. We're even better than a freaking charity, we're helping those useless pokemon, and we're making money, lots of money."

"Oh, believe me, I know. But, you know, there were some pokemon who needed this water."

"Yes. But it's not our fault either way. We're merely paving the way for evolution to take its course. The strong live, the weak die, and so on and so forth."

"That's good enough for me. Yeah, that sounds great actually."

Jake, the one who doubted the most, instinctively raised his sight. On top of a tall crane he saw a shadowy figure. Even though it was far away he could feel a piercing stare tearing through his soul.

"Hey, what's that over there?" he asked Freddy as he pointed at the crane.

But when Freddy turned there was nothing there.

"Meh, it's probably nothing," Freddy said.

"Yeah you're probably right," Jake said.

But then Jake felt a cold shiver down his spine and was compelled to turn around. The shadowy figure with the piercing red eyes was staring at him on top of a giant driller, closer to him. And Jake's face turned cold and doleful.

"I think there's something here," Jake said, with sweat already running down his forehead.

"That's right baby. Money."

"No Freddy, I mean something weird is going on. Look at that drill."

Freddy looked, he saw nothing there.

"Come on, do you still feel guilty because of the lake stuff? I told you. This is what happens, this is what always happens, and we can't stop it. So let's just go home, go and take a warm glass of milk and then go to sleep."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just go," Jake said. "I'm just nervous you know. We really need this to work, otherwise the shareholders will have our asses on the street. I desperately need this, you know, because of my divorce."

"Yeah, I know, me too. Let's get out of here."

They turned together to leave, and on the ground right in front of them was painted a horrific smile and a vicious pair of eyes. They dreaded every second they stared at the red eyes, it was so unbearable they desperately needed to look away but at the same time they couldn't. There was something hypnotic about that stare that seduced them, and at the same time the eyes called them to their demise. Behind the two frozen men with their despairing eyes open wide a group of Ghastly had gathered. They all screamed ghoulishly right on their ears and the pair suffered that instant, dreadful heartache, and their blood rushing with adrenaline forced them to run away like crazy. Gengar seeped his face out of the ground, and stared proudly at the two men who would never forget that night. Gengar liked them, he liked them very much.

Back on the Old Chateau. Ash was sitting in the sole remaining chair that he had set down on the garden, while Dawn cleaned the light bruises on his face tenderly and with care.

"I can't believe that worked," Ash said. "What was I thinking?"

"You weren't thinking. You never do," Dawn said.

Right then a group of bibarel as well as some duskull and a sole chingling gathered around them. And all of them stood quietly under the graceful moonlight, calm and pleased.

"So, now that we've finally gotten ourselves some peace and quiet, I would like to hear you say it again," Dawn said.

"Say what? How I stood up to Gengar and his goons even though they had more of them and were stronger than me? Of course I'll tell you all about it. So I stood in front of them and stared them down. I knew I had to do something, even though we were all the same, all of us, even though they just happened to be a little bit luckier than me, because they had a bigger and more powerful crew."

Dawn sighed deeply with her eyes closed, she kept her hands on him. "Come on Ash, don't do this. You know what I want you to say."

Ash locked eyes with her. "Oh yeah?" he said. "Well, if you want me to say it so much why don't you say it first."

"I like you. I like you very much."

Dawn stood right in front of Ash, he was still sitting down. She put her hands on his cheeks, and caressed him softly.

"I, like you too," he said. "I really like you. And I wish I would've said it much, much sooner."

"It's okay," she said. "You said it."

"I did."

Ash closed his eyes. Dawn stroked his hair and then reached her forehead to his, feeling each other's warmth. Both of them opened their eyes for just a second, and at the same time they looked at each other, however they could. And after closing them again, Dawn reached her lips and gave him a tender kiss. And all of the pokemon that had just gotten a home stared at them, and they kept staring.

Saturday night arrived, and it was Dawn's turn to be full of doubt. They had set up a small bonfire on the garden, all the pokemon they had saved were gathered around them along with Pikachu, Piplup, and the rest of Dawn's pokemon. Ash was tending to the fire and Dawn seemed to be in a hurry. She went and grabbed his hand, leading him to her. Then once again she grabbed him by the cheeks and gave him many anxious kisses. Even though she was nervous, she could focus completely on his lips, and when they were kissing literally nothing else mattered because nothing else seemed to be there at all. Whenever they were kissing, and they were kissing a lot, only they existed, only them and their delightful lips. Dawn knew Ash felt the same way.

"Listen Ash," she said to him during a hurried pause. "No matter what happens, I want you to know that I'll never forget any moment I spent with you this week. And I will start training for my next contest first thing Monday morning. I'll tell my Mom about all I did with you this week. I'll tell her everything, I'll tell everyone. I'll feel you in my performances. Remember the dress? I'll wear it with pride. I'll always remember that's the dress you saw me with during this week."

"Hey." Ash stroked her cheek. Dawn closed her eyes and let herself delight in his caress. "You have nothing to worry about. At first I thought I was going to go for sure, but now I don't think I'll ever have to leave you. Do you want to know when I sensed I wasn't going to go? It's when Gengar had me down on the ground, and I got up knowing that I was defeated. I sort of decided to put all of my trust in the idea that everything was going to be alright. I didn't know if everything would be alright, but I trusted. I just trusted. I don't think I can really explain it. I don't really have a better way to say it, but I really wish I did. I hope the rest of the Ashs learn this too. I hope the real Ash learns this and understands it well, even better than me, in a way that he can explain it well. You know what, I'm feeling pretty confident. No, but seriously, I might just be the real one."

"Oh, Ash." Dawn hugged Ash very hard, so hard she practically wanted to assimilate him within her. She rested her head on his chest for quite a while. Then she kissed him again and again, desperately, as if it was her last night to do so. "I have to tell you something," Dawn said, looking straight at him.

"What is it?"

"I, I. When I was staring at the line of you, when it was my turn to pick, I, I wasn't able to recognize which one of you was the real one."

"What?"

"I picked you, because you were the one I fell for. Right when I saw you I fell for you. I can't quite explain it. I fell for you so I picked you. But, when I stared at the line, I just, I couldn't recognize the real Ash like I was supposed to."

"But that doesn't mean I'm not the real one."

Right as he said that, Ash's skin began glowing of a very peculiar white.

"No! Please kiss me one last time," Dawn cried.

She went for him and his lips were still there, although the sensation wasn't quite the same. She felt a curious tingle, like an enjoyable electric shock when she kissed him, and at the same time his lips seemed to move and disappear intermittently.

"I don't want you to go," Dawn cried out.

"Wait," Ash said with a strange calm.

Dawn looked straight at him. Ash had his eyes glued at something to his right. She looked quickly but found nothing unusual.

"Wait, what? What are you doing here?" Ash said, with a very honest kind of curiosity.

"What is it Ash? Please tell me. Who are you saying this to?"

"Something's going on. I think I just figured it out. I think I know the answer," Ash said. Then he looked right in Dawn's eyes and held her arms firmly. "This isn't over."

Ash then began vibrating strangely, as did Pikachu. The white light engulfed them whole.

"Dawn, you know who the real Ash is," he said.

"What? Ash, please."

"You know. You do know, trust me."

"I trust you. I'll always trust you."

"Good. You know I've always felt-"

Ash exploded into a million white sparkles which quickly disappeared in the air.

Dawn fell on her knees, tears started flowing.

"I don't want you to go. Don't ever worry, I'll always trust you."

Piplup and Togekiss went to console her. She cleaned some of her tears off but it was of no use as the tears kept rolling down her cheeks. The bibarel and the duskull approached her too, even the little chingling went to her. And the many pokemon consoled her together.

"I'll do as I said I would," Dawn said. "I'll tell everyone about you. I'll tell everyone about this week. Ash, I swear."

From the sky, well above Dawn, Dialga observed silently. By the way it was looking down at her, with its divine red eyes caged in metal, it was obvious that Dialga was moved by her grief. The floating creature forced itself to keep staring down at her, it couldn't help but feel guilty. The fallout of the incident continued unraveling with no end in sight. It was just not fair.


	7. Sweet Island Delight

Hau'oli City, on Melemele Island, Alola, two weeks after the first incident. Remaining Ashs: 12

Pikachu was on the ground, his body was full of light bruises and he was covered in dirt. The opponent had been swift and merciless, perhaps unconsciously so. Either way, Pikachu couldn't stay awake any longer; his head went to the ground and his eyes closed.

Ash's voice came out as a lament full of energy as he shouted Pikachu's name. He ran to his dear pokemon, knelt in front of him, and lifted him into the warm fold of his arms.

"Hee hee hee!" His opponent stepped forward, wearing his blue shorts with cloud patterns printed on them, which reached well above his knees, with pride. His name was Scott, and he was a carefree kid who always had a smile on his face. So of course this time wasn't an exception, he was grinning from ear to ear, though his eyes showcased a more mischievous sentiment, brought about by his ruthless victory over our hero.

"You lost again," Scott said.

Ash was too distraught tending to Pikachu, so he didn't respond.

"Remember our deal, it's time to pay up," Scott continued; he was abundantly tanned. His blue eyes gleamed brightly at the prospect of finally obtaining his reward. "From now on you'll have to refer to me as Master Scott, just like we agreed. Why don't you start?"

But Ash was too focused on Pikachu, who slowly opened his eyes and gave his trainer a reassuring smile.

"Hey, come on Ash," Scott said, "call me Master Scott, it's the only reason I agreed to a rematch in the first place. It's not my fault that you keep trying to use electric attacks against my Mudbray. May I remind you that my pokemon is a ground type, which makes it completely immune to electric attacks."

"Ah, that's right!" Ash's eyes lit up. He was only glad to remember important fact like that one. This Ash was a seemingly simple fellow, with an empty mind which was nevertheless eager to learn.

"What's wrong with you?" Scott said. "I learned that stuff before I even learned how to ride a bike. I mean, I don't actually know how to ride a bike, but at least I already know all about type advantages and weaknesses, everyone does. Seriously, how dumb are you?"

"Well, it's complicated. You see, I'm sure I used to know all about type advantages and what not, but recently, because of something that happened to me, I've had to relearn a bunch of stuff. And I wanted to get back to my training full time, it's just that something else has my mind occupied pretty much all the time," Ash said, rubbing the back of his head. "But make no mistake, I'm ready to get back into it." He then looked down at his pokemon. "I'm sorry we lost again Pikachu, it was totally my fault."

Pikachu nodded with confidence as a reply, his reanimated eyes staring right at his trainer.

"Let's go again Scott, double or nothing!" Ash said.

"Na-ah, you already lost twice. Besides, how would double or nothing work in this situation? If I were to win again, which I totally would, what would you have to do anyway, call me Master Master Scott?"

Scott then raised his index finger, his eyes gleamed even brighter.

"Wait!" he said. "I just had a great idea. Okay, I'll give you another rematch, but if I win, you'll have to refer to me as Supreme Master Scott every time you talk to me or about me. And you can't refuse or ask for triple or nothing afterwards. What do you say?"

Seeing as Ash was still a reckless child at heart, he was about to accept Scott's proposition wholeheartedly; but then he saw his girlfriend of one week approaching, and, sensing that she wouldn't like that, he instead remained quiet.

"What's going on?" Mallow said with a lively smile, on her face bright as the sun. Even so, she could sense her dear boyfriend wasn't in the best mood.

"I just lost against Scott for the second time," Ash replied with a completely different tone. All of the sudden, the childish tone of his voice seemed to demand for Mallow to pity him. "Can't figure this out at all."

All of the sudden Ash's lips turned into a sad baby pout, and his eyes denoted great sadness even though they were closed—it was mainly because of the eyebrows. Clearly seeking solace, he walked towards Mallow and was instinctively led to her warm embrace. It was instantly soothing, Ash was acting like a sassy, pampered baby, but after only a week together he had gotten so used to her sugary comfort that he didn't care. And Mallow, for her part, felt almost guilty for enabling so much immaturity from him. But she just couldn't resist his performance, what's more she was eager to receive it. He rested his head on her bare shoulder, she was a little bit taller than him. She took his hat off and started stroking his hair tenderly, as if trying to appease a crying baby while also lulling him to sleep.

"Don't worry honey, you'll get them next time," Mallow said as she kept stroking his hair.

"No he won't," Scott suddenly said, harshly disrupting the sweetened atmosphere. "With his skills, he'll lose yet again, and then he'll have to call me Supreme Master Scott forever and always."

Mallow opened one eye and gave the little kid a cold stare for just a second. With it she made it clear that Scott was unwanted there, not only that, he was hated, was preferred far away from them and unable to speak. He understood all of this very well and so he closed his mouth tightly.

Mallow silently turned her full attention back to Ash, who still had Pikachu convalescing between them in his arms. She grabbed her boyfriend by the shoulders and softly pushed him away, only to flood his face with kisses. Myriads of warm and lengthy kisses, all of them with a committed clapping sound on his cheeks, his lips, his forehead and both temples, and his lips; all of them right in front of Scott.

"Come," Mallow said after a pause. Her lips could've been releasing steam from the overuse. "Let's get something for Pikachu and you."

Her left hand traveled softly all the way from his right shoulder to his hand; she held it firmly and led him all the way to her house.

"Yes," Ash exhaled faintly, with an exhausted-looking smile on his face, which still had the invisible-yet-delightful imprints of Mallow's lips all over it. He was happily led by her. He could've been led into a merciless cliff, he wouldn't have cared, as long as he was led to it by her.

Meanwhile Scott stared at them with an incredulous face, mouth wide open. It took him a couple of seconds to react accordingly, but when he finally did he found himself overcome with rage. He started jumping angrily, stomping the ground as hard as he could, rising a bunch of dirt in the process.

"Dang it!" He shouted. Although by that time Ash and Mallow were too far to hear him.

Half an hour later Ash found himself sitting on the most comfortable couch he had ever sat on. He didn't know if the couch itself was just that comfortable, or if it was himself who felt like he was laying on a cloud. He had just finished yet another delicious milkshake that Mallow had lovingly prepared just for him, and was currently holding the big empty glass over his belly. Close to him, on another couch on Mallow's living room, was Tsareena caressing a much healthier and delighted Pikachu, who was comfortably resting on her lap. Even if Ash was only a week old, he was very glad that he was wise enough to value what he had, and even if he didn't know many things, he knew that he just couldn't mess it up. Just because of this, he was most certainly the smartest one of them all.

"Did you like it?" Mallow suddenly appeared by his side. Her face was beaming, her lustrous hair was untied, she looked beautiful.

Ash was taken aback and understandably words escaped him.

"What's that?" he mumbled.

"Did you like the milkshake?"

"Oh yes, it was very delicious."

He was hypnotized by her lovely face staring down at him, with her attentive and caring eyes, adorable, and lively, and so clearly devoted.

"Would you like some more?" she said.

A half-full pitcher appeared in her hand. It was entirely possible that she had been carrying it for all of that time—in fact that was the case—but Ash was so enchanted by her face that he couldn't identify it beforehand.

"Oh, yeah. Yes, definitely," Ash said.

Then Mallow's smile became even wider, and then Ash saw his glass gradually becoming full again. He wanted to say many things in that moment, but something stopped him from opening his mouth. He sensed he shouldn't speak, it was a bittersweet feeling fueling his restraint, though it was mostly sweet.

"You're very nice to me," Ash did say to Mallow, while looking up at her.

"Of course, as I should be," she replied. "You are my boyfriend."

Mallow caressed Ash's belly in a circular motion. He stared at her hand dancing in his view. But then Ash was scared, and filled with a very sudden horror, when he noticed that a considerable bump, a relatively giant mass, had grown right below his chest, where his lissome abdomen was supposed to be.

"Ah! What's this?" Ash cried out.

"That's your belly," Mallow said with love.

"Why is it there?"

"What do you mean? Where would you prefer it to be? It's nothing to worry about, it's just, it seems you've put on a few pounds this week dear."

"I'd say more than a few! And that doesn't bother you? Cause it seems like it should. I for one I'm horrified."

"Not at all, in fact I think it's very cute," Mallow said.

After hearing her response Ash wasn't so bothered by it anymore, and instead, the trace of a smile appeared on his face.

"So I can keep eating as many of your meals as I want to?" he said.

"Um. You, _have_, to eat all of the food that I give you," Mallow said.

And then Ash smiled, but then he looked up at her and saw that she was dead serious about it, and so he nodded earnestly and then Mallow's face was beaming again.

She pinched his chubby side lovingly and then went back to the kitchen, leaving Ash with his mouth open.

Ash stared at Mallow, his girlfriend. She was wearing a lovely pink apron; had her hand on the handle of a pan, placed upon the flame of the stove; the pan was filled with boiling oil; all the while the drink on his hand was sweating, leaving a wet circle on his shirt around his belly button. It was a wonderful view, but then he noticed something.

"Wait a minute, what are you making?" Ash asked, suddenly curious.

"Just a light snack," Mallow replied. It was clear she was trying not to bring attention to it.

"You do know I have a sense of smell, right? I know you're making your special dish. When did you sneak out to buy more poni radish?"

"During your rematch with Scott."

"I see. I told you we couldn't get more radish this week," Ash said rather sternly.

"I thought you loved it," Mallow said, all of the sudden playing up her feelings. She was a good actress too. She could've been crying and it would've been believable.

"You know I love it, but that's not the issue. If you keep spending like that we won't have anything to eat next week, dear."

Mallow left her pan alone and went to Ash. She knelt right next to him and grabbed his arm firmly.

"I'm sorry, I really wanted to cook something special today."

"You want to make something special today as well as every day. What am I going to do with you?"

"Don't patronize me," Mallow said, with a softer tone, while resting her head on Ash's arm.

"I'm sorry. At least I'll have enough reserves to get me through the month," Ash said, patting his belly.

"Don't worry, I'll ask my dad to forward me my next month's allowance."

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. Besides, what are you going to do next month? Or rather, what will we do next week? Because your allowance won't last us even a few days with the way we literally eat through it."

"Then I'll ask him for the next month's allowance, and when that one runs out I'll ask him for the next, and then the next. Don't worry baby, my dad's completely fine with it, he understands. Besides I don't even get a salary from working at my own restaurant full time, my own brother does and he's never there. So I can basically do whatever I want. I mean it."

"And does your dad think it's okay for you to spend all of your money on me?"

"Yes he does!" Mallow said passionately. "I promise. He really likes you, we can go ask him now."

"We can, sure, we could. Although believe you—so there's no reason for me to get off the couch."

"See, everything's fine baby. You've been through a lot recently, you deserve all of what I can give you and more."

Mallow gave him a tender kiss and then went back to the kitchen to tend the stove, Ash was again at a loss for words.

The annual Alola Bread Festival was due to be celebrated that very week in Hau'oli City, and Mallow and Ash had decided to enter together as a couple. Mallow had been the winner of the bread-making contest for two years in a row, and she was looking forward to having Ash as her partner this time around. They had everything but one ingredient lined up for the recipe that would surely guarantee their victory: a roseli berry! Which still eluded them after more than a week of search.

A few days later, Ash once again went out looking for the missing ingredient by himself.

While inspecting the dense forest just outside Hau'oli City, Ash ran into none other than Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, walking around happily and without a single worry, holding a pokeball on each hand. The sight of a person who looked exactly like him standing just a few feet away startled Ash greatly, and it took him a few seconds to react. Thankfully he had a partially reasonable explanation for such an eerie phenomenon, and so the surprise encounter was a rather pleasant one, at first.

"Hey Ash! It's me, Ash, remember? From when we died?" The Other Ash said as he waved his open hand with glee. For this he carelessly dropped one of his pokeballs on the ground. "I knew it was you, I never forget a face especially if that face is mine. Long time no see, I'm glad we're both wearing clothes this time."

"Yeah me too," Ash said, "I didn't expect to see you here in Alola."

"Lana brought me here, how about you?"

"Mallow, she's my girlfriend now."

"Really? That sucks. Lana wants me to be her boyfriend, it's so annoying."

"What! No, having a girlfriend is awesome. They give you lots of hugs and kisses, they listen to you even if you only say dumb stuff, they even care about it and all you have to do is listen in return, and their voices are so lovely that it's so easy and so you have no trouble caring about what they say even if it's boring or they've already said the same thing a bunch of times before. I'm so grateful Mallow chose me, I'm very grateful. She says it's okay to feel that way but that I shouldn't say it out loud so much, and to so many people, but I just want to tell everyone how grateful I am. I mean, if I had known that girlfriends were this caring and nice I would've lamented my inability to get one a lot more in the past."

"That doesn't make sense to me at all," the Other Ash said. "I don't understand what Lana is saying to me half the time, and she doesn't even want to keep training with me after a while. Not even Pikachu can keep up with me. I don't know what's gotten into him, his reflexes aren't good and he always seems tired. But I feel so energized." The Other Ash started jumping on his spot. "I want to go surfing, hey, do you want to go surf with me? They don't even want me indoors most of the time, they say I'm too loud and I break things easily. That's why I'm here right now actually, everyone says they need to take a little break from me. Hey, do you want to have a battle right now?"

"No, sorry. Not right now."

"What?" The Other Ash was flabbergasted. He couldn't understand his chubby counterpart at all. Furthermore, he was taken aback after hearing his own voice refusing a match. "How could you say that? That's not what Ash would say!"

"What do you mean, what am I supposed to say?"

"You're supposed to agree to have a battle with me, and then we'll have another and we'll keep training day and night."

"Sorry, I'm too busy right now looking for a roseli berry. We need it for our bread recipe, Mallow and I are entering the Alola Bread Festival. She has won the past two competitions and this time she's doing it with me, and I don't want to disappoint her."

"Okay, so if I find it for you, you'll have a battle with me?"

"Ha," Ash openly chuckled, "we've been looking for a week and a half. But sure, if you find a roseli berry I'll battle with you all you want. As if you're going to find it."

"Here it is." The Other Ash handed Ash a roseli berry. It was exactly what he was looking for: shiny red, the size of his fist, firm and appetizing, with blue leaves coming out of its stalk at the top. Nevertheless Ash couldn't believe it. He inspected thoroughly and realized it was not a gimmick, it was the real thing.

"Wow!" He grabbed his head in amazement. "Thanks so much Ash! This surely guarantees our victory. Where did you find it?"

"On top of a tree. Great, so let's have a match that lasts the whole day and also the night and maybe all of tomorrow, let's go."

"I'm sorry, I'm so excited to show this to Mallow right now. But I'll remember that I owe you that match."

"Wait, no! You promised!"

"And I'll fulfill my promise, just not right now."

"What could be more important than this? Surely your relationship can't get in the way of your training. This is our dream."

"Is that really what you think of my relationship?"

"Yes!" Other Ash said with full confidence.

"Well, I guess you've never been in love then. Listen, we'll see each other again, you can count on it. For now you should go back to Lana and be nice to her. You never know when you'll fall in love."

"Ha. Mark my words other me, I'll never fall in love with anyone."

"Whatever you say other me, I have to go."

"Wait…"

For the first time in this Other Ash's life he had been left like a statue. He simply didn't understand his chubby counterpart. He was making a grave mistake, his current body showed that he had long stopped caring about all that this Other Ash considered important. He was deeply preoccupied. Although just a few moments later this Other Ash decided to stop dwelling in that harmless betrayal, and went back to running around finding pokemon to battle with. He ran to the opposite direction that Mallow's boyfriend did.

Meanwhile, from within the dense forest, four mythical creatures stared at the pair of Ashs. The Island Guardians, as they were called by the few who knew about them, kept a watchful eye on the two. They knew the Ashs who were currently in the island were in terrible danger. And, after seeing them head in completely opposite directions, the guardians knew they had a decision to make. After some pondering time they decided to secretly follow Ash. Specifically, Mallow's Ash.

Ash hurried to find Mallow with a wide smile on his face; he was very much in love. She was not far, in fact she had gone on searching for berries on her own; though she had made a quick detour to the market first. She had a basket full of berries, although none of them of the kind they had been searching for.

"Hey Mallow, I found it!" she heard. Then she saw him coming and smiled just like him.

Mallow then identified the berry in his hands, and ascertained that he had found it. "Really? Sweet! We'll definitely win with this."

"Yeah, but I do have to say I can't take the credit for finding it," Ash said with a calmer tone. "Wait, Mallow, what were you doing?"

"I was searching for berries too, that's all." She couldn't look at him.

"Is that all though?"

"Okay, you got me, I also bought more poni radishes. It's just, I know you love them. I know you do, I can see it in your face when you eat them."

"I guess I can't blame you, I do love your special dish."

"So what were you saying?"

"Oh yeah, I encountered Lana's Ash. He's a bit immature to be honest, but he helped me find the roseli berry. He actually found it for me, I owe him a match for it. A lot of matches actually. Although, there's a chance we won't be able to go through with all of that."

Something inside Mallow broke. For a week and a half she had tried so hard not to think about it. She had been successful in avoiding that thought, even when she was about to go to sleep, when her mind would trouble her the most—that thought would come to her—she only had to think of Ash's face to resist it.

"I can't tell you how glad I am that I didn't-"

"Don't say it," Mallow hurried to say. "Please, let's just not talk about it."

"Mallow, we must. We have to think about what might happen."

"No," she said. "Sorry, I can't."

Mallow dropped the basket, some berries fell on the ground. She ran away, Ash tried to grab her hand but his fingers didn't connect. He started running, but she screamed at him not to and so he stopped, and watched her leave in silence.

Ash knelt down to grab the basket and slowly picked up the berries that had fallen. He then put the roseli berry in it along with the poni radishes and the rest of the berries.

Ash waited for Mallow outside until she came back. Afterwards he made sure to avoid mentioning anything that could remotely remind her of what might happen. So they didn't talk much. It's not like he wanted to think about it, but mostly he was truly sorry that she had to go through something like that. She didn't deserve it.

Days Passed. It was the morning of the day of the competition, and Ash and Mallow hadn't spoken like they used to. The thought of what might happen didn't let them. It was weird, the overwhelming uncertainty of their future brought them so much distress, which made it very difficult for them to interact with one another, and yet they cared about each other so much that they just knew they couldn't pass the opportunity to make a great memory together. So they woke up very early and started preparing the ingredients. The bread would be ready in just over an hour, so they could take their sweet time and handle everything with care.

Mallow peeled the berries clean off with her already masterful ability. She focused entirely on her hands as she did it, and so her face showed her emotional state pretty much naked. The sides of her lips were directed downwards, her eyes lacked color and her eyebrows had fallen, and Ash, sitting in front of her, with the table between them, didn't know what to say. There were no words in his mind, only the feeling of impotence, and the piercing desire to make her happy; nothing that could make the situation better. Then Mallow handed the berries to Ash, who proceeded to cut them into little pieces. That required more than enough ability to be done correctly, but she had already taught him well the week before so he knew how to do it. They continued their respective endeavors silently. Even if it was a bit awkward, their closeness gave off a rather enjoyable warmth that motivated them to keep going.

The last string of the oran berry skin fell on the table, and Mallow held the juicy berry in her right hand. Ash extended both of his hands to get it, because the berries were so ripe that some of them had slipped from their grip. He took the berry, and on their travel backwards his cold fingers tasted Mallow's fingertips. This startled Ash to the point that he dropped the berry on the table. There was silence, and neither of them bothered to pick it up, they didn't even move. It was Ash who went for her, he grabbed her hand which was still extended, with both of his hands, and felt her slippery fingers, and then her wet palm. She closed her eyes and let him have it. She felt so tender, and so fragile, he remembered how much he liked her. Ash stared at Mallow and waited attentively until she opened her eyes, and when she did she found herself completely exposed and so she closed them again. But she couldn't hide. She liked him so much and she could tell that he felt the same way. After all, she had his eyes in front of her too. So she opened them and remembered how much he meant to her. She smiled and felt his slippery hands through.

The front door opened, and Abe, Mallow's dad came in. Mallow had his olive skin, and his hair. She had also inherited his pleasant smile, which Abe carried, albeit with a rather sober decorum, as he walked towards them.

"I have news," Abe said, "are you ready?" Then he made a little pause before he continued, still with a sober smile on his face. "It was Dawn's. It seems Juniper was right after all."

Ash could all but hear Mallow's insides breaking once more. He looked down at her hand, he stared fervently and tried to hold on to it but Mallow took it away with a sudden movement, very violent, which Ash nevertheless felt in painful slow motion. Ash felt the desolating caress as she removed her hand anxiously trembling, her skin wet and so very delicate like that of a baby. Such was her innocence. It was in her skin and in her eyes. Her hand slipped away and then Ash lamented how it gradually traveled out of his view. And then his hands were there alone.

He lifted his gaze but didn't find her. She was already walking out of the house. Ash was able to take a blurry look at her back, at her hair waving high from the sheer speed of her escape, and then she was gone.

Then there was only that emptiness that he knew so well. He remembered it even from before the incident. It was dreadful. It was a lack of safety, an uncertainty like no other. This Ash couldn't handle it by himself, perhaps other Ashs could, the one Ash most certainly could, maybe, but this one didn't have the fortitude. For this one, there was no reason to want to be alone. And escaping that dreadful fear was only one of the many reasons he had for being with Mallow.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault," Abe said very consciously.

Ash turned to him intending to be mad, but with just a look he could tell how sorry Abe felt, and just couldn't hate him.

"I should've known," Abe said. He went and sat at the table, facing Ash. "I knew better. That was so stupid of me."

"Maybe it's for the best," Ash suddenly said.

"What! Are you insane?" Abe loudly replied. "Don't you love her? She's crazy about you. You've got her practically hypnotized."

"I can see that. I am crazy about Mallow. And I do wish I could stay here and be with her. It's just, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to do that, and so maybe I should let her down right now to limit her suffering. I've thought about this before but I couldn't bring myself to mention it to her. I saw how nice she was to me and I knew that every second that passed without me telling her would only make it harder for her later on. I shouldn't have come here. I shouldn't have done this to her. I'm dumb, and weak. I'm not even strong enough to break things off with her."

"Hey, come on Ash. Don't say that." Abe touched Ash's shoulder. "What you say is simply not true. Look, I don't know you very well, but I do know my daughter. She's a great person, capable of seeing the best in people. She's smart, hardworking, and she loves you. I cannot convince you that you're great as you are, even though it's true. But I am convinced that you're great as you are, because Mallow chose you."

"Wow. Thanks Abe. That actually does help a lot."

"No problem."

Ash hesitated, he looked up and saw the reassuring smile that Abe was sporting.

"I never know what to say, so I don't say anything," Ash said. "I can't forget about what might happen—that I might explode. But past that, I can tell that I should speak up when I'm with her, I just don't know how."

"Yeah, I can tell as much. Mallow has been trying to get closer to you and get you to open up. When she can't do it with words she tries to do it with food. If one doesn't work the other one sure does."

"Well it's worked, or at the very least it has helped. Maybe I should continue keeping my distance, so that she keeps making those delicious dishes," Ash said with a smile, trying to make it clear his last remark was meant to be taken as a joke.

"That's awful Ash," Abe said sternly and with a somberly serious, kind of hurt, almost angry expression on his face. Joke or not, it wasn't cool.

"I'm sorry. It was a terrible joke. I do know better and the last thing I want to do is to hurt her."

Abe sensed Ash was sincere, and though it made him sad given the circumstances, it also made him very happy.

Ash stood up and went to look through the window on the living room. The house was located outside of town and there was a lot of separation between it and the rest of the neighboring houses, which were likewise comfortably separate from one another. They were very close to the jungle. Ash had a great view of the abundant vegetation outside. It was a beautiful day outside, the sky was clear and the sun hit the plants directly. Ash was able to relax slightly by staring at the trees swaying softly from side to side. His whole visual field was encompassed almost entirely by leaves, it looked so green it practically glistened; it almost looked fake. Ash let the time pass looking through the window, and ultimately lost track of it. But he couldn't ignore the asphyxiating glass in front of him.

Meanwhile Abe remained sitting on the kitchen because of how sorry he felt.

"Were you preparing the bread for the competition?" Abe asked.

"Um, yeah. Yes. I don't know about that anymore though."

"Can I eat some berries? I'm starving."

"Eh, sure, of course. Please help yourself."

"Thanks, I'll have just a few."

"No, seriously, please have as many as you want. You've done a lot for me these past weeks."

"I'm just glad you're eating well."

Ash turned around and went back to the kitchen.

"To tell you the truth," he told Abe, "I'm completely clueless as to what I should do about this. As I said I really have trouble thinking about what I should do and say in general, cause I'm not very smart. This has happened a few times, and I never know what to say to her."

"Yeah, it's difficult. Mallow already lost someone very close to her, and she doesn't want to go through that again."

That was too much for Ash. The weight and seriousness of it made him actually consider abandoning his task for the first time ever. But he cared too much about her to do that.

"Son," Abe said. "May I call you son?"

"Sure," Ash softly replied.

"Great, thanks."

Abe could easily sense how overwhelmed our hero was by the gravity of the situation. He waved at the empty chair in front of him, telling Ash to sit, then he offered some of the berries that Ash himself had cut, and Ash started pecking on them.

"Listen son," Abe said, "I could talk at length about how focusing entirely on the present is much, much better than thinking about what might happen. All of the worries, the anxieties, all of those problems that seem like they have no solution, as well as the fear that comes with the uncertainty of the future, all of the stress you feel from things over which you don't have control, all of it can go away, if you have faith. That's what has gotten me where I am now, it has saved me from all of my problems, and because of it I don't ever have to be bothered by anything that I can't change. I could talk about that for hours and hours on end, and I know that if you're capable of having that kind of faith, as I know you are because Mallow chose you, I know I'd easily be able to convince you to stop worrying about it. But instead, I'll just tell you this right now: Don't mess up a good thing while you got it."

"Don't mess up a good thing while you got it," Ash repeated, deep in thought.

"That's right son."

"Yes, it's true," Ash stood up from the chair, with his fist raised, "you're right Abe."

"I know son."

"I have to go to Mallow, I have to tell her that I'm here for her."

"Go do that son."

"Thank you Abe, you've just saved me, and you've given me a very valuable lesson."

"No worries son, you are my son now."

Ash ran to the door. He had already forgotten why he was so sad. As he was so forgetful and his mood tended to change by the second, minding only the immediate present, just as Abe had told him to do, was probably the best possible advice he could've gotten.

"Hey Ash," Abe shouted and made Ash stop with his hand on the door handle. "Do you know what I've always wanted?"

"What?"

"A grandchild."

"Okay. I hope one day you manage to get one sir."

Ash opened the door, he was only thinking of getting Mallow back. He'd tell her that everything was going to be alright, and then they'd enter the competition. Just then he remembered about the bread and the berries and then he thought of something that made him very anxious all of the sudden. He slowly turned backwards, and his eyes managed to catch the exact moment Abe bit into the ripe and throbbing roseli berry, and he ate most of it in one bite.

"What's the matter Ash?" Abe innocently asked, with some bits of the roseli berry still in his mouth. "Do you need some tips to get Mallow back? To be honest I was never good with words. Mallow's mom was the one for that, in fact she spoke to me first. I was so afraid. She'd say the words I wanted to say and I'd just nod. But don't worry you'll be fine."

"Yeah," Ash said, then he quickly turned around to hide his worried face. "Thanks a lot Abe."

"You're welcome!" Abe replied.

And then Ash nodded and got out of the house, with the worried expression on his face very much intact. All of the sudden he got served a very surprising failure. Everything was ruined, there was no time to find another roseli berry, it was probably too late to start cooking the bread anyway. Mallow wouldn't be able to defend her title this year. He himself didn't know how much he was going to last this time, and Mallow was still sad. It seemed like nothing could be done. Ash remembered Mallow's face as she gazed down at him with her eager eyes, smiling wide with her delicious lips. He had to do something about it. All he knew other than cutting berries was training pokemon, and he wasn't good at that. But it was still something.

Ash was instinctively led to Pikachu, who had gotten used to roaming through the nearby jungle along with the local pokemon. Ash himself had accompanied him a couple of times and so he knew where Pikachu's favorite places to rest and relax were within that condensed collection of flora. While looking around the densest part of the small jungle he thought he heard his companion's characteristic cry coming from beyond a very large bush. Ash grabbed a bunch of leaves with his fist and moved them away with one swipe, and saw Tsareena sitting comfortably on the ground, with her large pink legs folded to the side of her. Her hand was planted on the ground, and she was using her arm to rest her upper body. She was leaning forward for Pikachu, who, at the exact moment Ash caught sight of him, was on his way to give Mallow's pokemon a timid peck on the lips (or at least right on where her lips were supposed to be on her white refined face) with his eyes closed. Pikachu immediately sensed Ash's presence there, and he also heard the rather violent swipe of the leaves that Ash used to get a view. So Pikachu opened his eyes and saw him there, and instantly retreated, and blushed. Ash felt terrible very quickly, because he understood. Tsareena gave him a look which made it clear to Ash that he had just ruined the mood. Ash felt even worse. The last thing he wanted was to prevent his best friend from obtaining that which he himself had been very lucky to obtain.

"I'm sorry," Ash blurted out. Perhaps there was nothing else to say. "I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Please, don't let me stop you."

Pikachu released a cry filled with embarrassment.

"I'm just saying!" Ash continued, trying his best to solve the situation with words—he couldn't succeed. "I'm, uh, I'm very proud of you Pikachu."

Pikachu released another cry, his embarrassment could be physically felt.

"What? Everything's okay! Good job."

At this Tsareena stood up. She walked towards Ash, who got very scared. Then she grabbed the fist of leaves and put it in front of him, blocking his view.

"I'm sorry!" Ash stupidly shouted, erroneously attempting to save face.

Pikachu yelled at him, it was cleared Ash had to leave. And so he did.

And he felt really bad for a while, as he should've. But Pikachu would be fine, it was he who needed to do something, and now he couldn't get help from his best friend.

Ash approached the festival, and saw that the competition was already taking place. It was too late. Sure, at first he was sad. But then, when he kept looking at the people, with wide smiles on their faces, wearing corny aprons and oven mitts, tasting what were surely mediocre loafs of bread, and he thought that all of them were probably happy that Mallow wasn't participating this year cause they were jealous of her, Ash got very mad. How dare they start their little festival without her? How dare they laugh and have fun while she's probably crying? These kind of thought filled his wrath. And then it hit him. If the festival was canceled, there would be no winner, and Mallow would retain her title until next year. "Nobody is allowed to have fun if my Mallow isn't having fun," Ash said just for himself. Then he smiled, because he realized he was very hungry.

Ash walked into the middle of the place, many tables were set, with banners announcing the name of the plate of each competitor. Even though he was visibly mad and some of them knew he was supposed to enter the competition, nobody paid attention to him; nobody could guess what he was about to do. If they had known, they would've tried to stop him from entering the festival altogether. Coincidentally, Scott was there too. He was wearing a blue apron with cloud patterns on it, and had a wide smile on his face.

"Oh, hey Ash," Scott said. "Is there anything you'd like to say to me?"

"Yeah," Ash said, channeling his anger, "Master Scott, I see you've entered the competition."

"Indeed I have, with my famous Konikoni bread, which will surely knock out the competition," Scott said proudly with his little hands on his hips.

Ash grabbed his loaf of bread and started devouring it like a madman. Scott couldn't believe what he was seeing, he tried to stop Ash with tears already coming out of his eyes.

"NOOO!" Scott cried with his hands raised.

Ash finished his bread with no mercy, it was under-cooked.

Meanwhile, Mallow's eyes were also teary. She was hiding in her favorite spot within the jungle, sitting under a leafy tree. She'd go there whenever she felt overwhelmed. Only a few minutes under that benevolent shade were necessary to calm her every time. This time was no exception. And then she was left thinking why she liked Ash so much. In order for someone to really capture Mallow's heart, she needed to be comfortable being completely open with them, and they needed to be comfortable with that too. And they needed to stay by her side. Always. But then again, she had fallen in love with Ash without taking any kind of reasoning into account, it was just because of how he was, and she was in love with him. He was simple and therefore comfortable and yet somehow felt so vast that he couldn't be completely understood. He was worth the risk. And his belly was so cute. But, being with him just because not being with him would be considered a waste, wasn't enough for Mallow. That only served to argue in favor of why not doing something was a waste—it was going through with it for the sake of not wasting it, instead going through with it because that's what she wanted to do—it wasn't actually a reason for her to actually go through with that risk. No, the reason she was going to risk getting hurt was: because it was him.

As she realized this, the four Island Guardians, Tapu Koko, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Fini and Tapu Lele, descended upon Mallow and surrounded her in a circle. She stared at them astonished, while they remained silent and stared back A Guardian would only reveal itself to someone if it considered that person worthy. And here were the four of them, staring at her with a very serious resolve in their mystical eyes. Something else was going on, and she just knew it had to do with Ash. Mallow in fact knew that the Guardians liked Ash, they too could see how good he was. At that point she couldn't have known that they were actually there to keep her Ash safe, and to keep vigil in case the transtemporal dared to appear. But she understood that they were on her side. Suddenly Tapu Koko and Tapu Lele moved, clearing a path for her which led to the city, as if telling her to go get her Ash. When she realized this, the Tapus nodded at her, reassuring her that everything would be fine.

So she wiped her face, stood up, and went for him. After Mallow started searching for Ash she got very worried, because she had a very good idea of where he could be, and the reckless things that he could be doing. She ran to the festival and stopped right at the entrance with her mouth open, with the banner announcing the Alolan Bread Festival right above her.

Ash was plowing through bread after bread without mercy. People were running both at him and away from him. All he had to do to neutralize those who sought to stop him was to stuck a piece of bread on their mouths. That's what Ash did to anyone who got near him. And so he literally ate through the competition until there was no bread left to evaluate, all of this whilst Mallow stood quietly in awe of him. Sure, he was being reckless and dumb, he had just ruined a cherished tradition, but what bothered her the most was that he was eating somebody else's food, not hers.

"Ash! What on Earth are you doing?" Mallow shouted.

"I told you!" Ash shouted back without looking at her. He was too focused on ruining the festival to identify who was shouting at him. "I already told you, I'm doing this for love!"

"Please stop! You're ruining the festival."

"That's the plan!"

"What are you talking about? Oh, you dummy."

Ash then heard Mallow loud and clear. Hearing her sweet voice, even as she was shouting, got him out of his berseker rage and he started looking for her.

Then he saw her, she was smiling like she used to; she just couldn't help herself after understanding what he had meant to do.

"It worked!" Ash raised his fist. "Yes, we did it Pikachu! Oh, I forgot he's not here."

"You didn't do anything positive," Mallow said, "you ruined the festival."

"I know, I did it for you. Now there won't be a winner so you're still the champion. Mallow, I don't care what happens next, I'm sure of what I feel and I want to be with you for as long as I can, and we don't have to talk about anything you don't want to, but please."

"It's okay," Mallow said, as she grabbed Ash and held him dearly. "I'm not afraid anymore, and I know you won't leave."

Mallow pushed Ash away a little bit.

"But you shouldn't have done this," she said sternly, "I don't care about keeping the title, or at least I don't want it to happen like this."

"Oh. I guess I could've thought about it a little bit more," Ash said, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm really sorry, I'm such an idiot. Please forgive me."

"I forgive you honey, I know what you meant to do. And don't worry, you're not dumb, you just need a little more time to adjust. I assure you, you'll have plenty of it, with me."

Ash looked up at her, he leaned in for a kiss and Mallow grabbed both of his cheeks and reached her lips to give him what he wanted. They remained connected until the people around them started clapping. Mallow and Ash let go of each other, they suddenly remembered there were other people there. Everyone had a pleased smile on their faces, it was obvious they had enjoyed the couple's performance.

"I was going to say though, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Mallow said awkwardly. "Although, maybe you won't need to apologize after all."

"Yeah, think again," Scott said, "I worked really hard on that bread. Are we seriously going to let him off the hook just because he did this for his girlfriend?"

"I guess so," said a dude with glasses, who was also wearing an apron. "I mean, we all knew that Mallow was going to win this year too anyway."

"We're very sorry for the terrible trouble my boyfriend has caused all of you," Mallow said as she bowed. She looked at Ash, then grabbed his head and made him bow too.

"Yeah, definitely," he said. "I'll pay you back however I can."

"I have an idea," Mallow said as she raised her head, "Why don't we go to my restaurant? Today is on the house for everyone, it's the least I can do."

The people of the festival celebrated loudly, none of them were mad anymore because they knew they'd gotten the best possible deal, as no meal there could compare to anything from Mallow's restaurant.

"Thank you Mallow, I think you just saved my life," Ash said.

"Whenever you want honey," Mallow said. Then she looked at Ash and saw his face was shining white. "What's that on your nose?"

Mallow wiped the tip of Ash's nose with her index finger. It was just meringue, she was sure of it when she tasted it.


	8. Lumiose City, je t'aime (Part 1)

Lumiose City, Kalos, two weeks after the first incident. Remaining Ashs: 12.

Serena couldn't help but wonder why; why was it exactly that Ash hadn't asked her out yet? They had spent the entire past week together, and it was obvious that they liked each other.

Ash's face would turn red whenever he locked eyes with her. Meanwhile Serena was seized by a paralyzing warmth that was in equal parts anxiety-inducing and delightful whenever she was close to him. Their mutual attraction prevented them from saying more than two words at a time, made it difficult for them to walk adequately, and yet, they'd rather stay close to one another. The discomfort was nothing compared to the bliss that Serena got simply by being near him.

It was impossible for her to think that she could love someone so much, without being able to make sense of him.

She kept thinking about just how much the love of her life frustrated her while she waited in line to get a coffee. Even after the barista asked for her order and she obtained the precious cup with her name on it, wrongly spelled with two n's, the apparently unsolvable mystery that was Ash Ketchum continued tormenting her.

Serena thought about staying in the coffee shop to enjoy her coffee, there were plenty of free tables for two, though none for one. She knew perfectly well that if she sat on any table with a free chair, one of the many admirers that she had unwillingly acquired while staying in Lumiose City, would appear out of nowhere and start bugging her. She'd rather not have her mood ruined so early in the day.

She headed for the glass door. Her hand was on its way for the handle when another hand appeared and grabbed it first, then promptly opened the door for Serena. It was Jacques, a childhood friend of hers who three months ago had confessed his love for her. He had turned, from a sensitive kid who cried more often than not, into a handsome artist with perfect black hair, which reached his shoulders. Serena had softly rejected him with the truth—her heart already belonged to someone else—and then, she lamented how he said he would persist until her heart was swayed.

"Thanks, how kind," Serena said. "Nice to see you."

"Serena, it's such a lovely surprise to find you here," Jacques said.

"Does that surprise you? That's worrying, considering I come here every morning."

"Okay, you got me. I give up."

"Already?" Serena said playfully.

Jacques had to take a pause, in order to give Serena a second-long exasperated look.

"I've been waiting for you to appear for the past hour and forty one minutes."

"Oh, Jacques. I hope what I'm about to say isn't as insensitive as it seems in my mind. Should I ask why, or do I already know the answer? Did anything happen?"

"Something has definitely been happening," Jacques replied, forcing a smile, "although I cannot believe you have the slightest idea of what it is. If you did-"

"Let's get out of the way," Serena interrupted, when she saw a couple outside on their way to the coffee shop.

Jacques held the door open for Serena as she went outside, then waited until the couple had gone inside to follow after her. Serena wanted to run away, she knew she had a few valid reasons to do so, but her good manners didn't let her.

"It was really nice to see you. I have somewhere to be," she said to Jacques once he caught up with her.

"Was it nice to see me?" Jacques replied with a subtle hint of vexation. "I've been waiting for you. You seemed so happy when you first saw me. Made me feel welcome with your warm greeting."

"Thank you, I appreciate that. I try to be warm and welcoming whenever I greet someone—anyone. I like being polite, although these days it rarely works in my favor."

"That's because you're beautiful, you've got a particularly irresistible natural magnetism."

"Thank you Jacques… You're quite handsome."

"Handsome enough to date?"

"I'm sure, there are plenty of people who'd agree to date you in a heartbeat. But I can't because, as I said, I already have someone."

"You can't, or won't? I'm sorry but I must let you know that I'd treat you like the queen you are. If you would just agree to go on a date with me—no strings attached, merely a date—I would take you to a place where you've never been before."

"I can't, I'm sorry. But, it's going to bother me if I don't ask. Are you talking about a place here in Lumiose?"

"Yes."

"Then that can't be true because there isn't a single place where I've never been. I know every corner of this city. I made sure to remember every single brick that makes up this carefully constructed collection of beauty purposed as a place for people to live in. I know it so well I could easily say this entire city belongs to me now."

"I love how passionate you are," Jacques said, forcing another smile.

"Look, I'm on my way to meet the guy I like. It was nice to see you Jacques, you look well. I'm sorry that I cannot reciprocate your feelings, we must end this way. I'm sorry."

Serena turned her back to him and walked away, leaving Jacques with both feet planted on the street made out of brick.

Exchanges like that always left Serena with a specific sensation, an acutely dreadful one. The number of rejections she had to perform on a weekly basis had increased exponentially, ever since her life-infused Ash came to Lumiose with her. This was because everyone could see the pure, overwhelming joy pouring out of each and every single one of her movements, coating her characteristically Kalosian beauty—which was already a sight to behold—in yet another layer of attractiveness.

Seeing as Serena had already picked the person with whom she would spend the rest of her life, the pervasive nature of her numerous suitors was nothing but a terrible nuisance, a problem that needed to be solved as soon as possible if she wanted to continue enjoying her precious city. Of course she knew exactly how to solve her predicament, and she was aching to get it done as soon as possible. In fact, that very instant—as she headed to meet her future lover, as her shoes clacked at contact with the street made out of brick, making the resulting sounds quite satisfying—would do just fine. Either Ash would put an end to her problem, simply by uttering three mythical words, or she would say those words to him, for herself.

All of her worries, as well as that dreadful sensation, all of it went away as soon as she reached Magenta Plaza and saw Ash. He was crouching on the grass, on the open field in front of her, but had his back turned towards her, so Serena couldn't see his face. He was settled exactly between two round bushes filled with vibrant pink flowers. Serena approached. To the left of him were two pidove who were extremely focused on their grooming activities. The feathered boy used its beak to make sure the girl's neck remained clean and plushy, all the way until the girl had enough of him and turned her little beak to his own, and the pidove began kissing abundantly, giving each other quick pecks in succession, right on their bird lips. Serena gazed at them for a moment, with a wide smile and bright eyes perfect for a picture. Then she focused on Ash.

"Hey Ash, what are you doing?"

Ash was a bit startled at hearing her voice. "Hi," he said, focusing a little too much on sounding inviting. "I'm still observing Pikachu, take a look."

Serena crouched down right next to him and proceeded to marvel at Ash's tiny best friend.

Pikachu was practically a distinguished member of high society. He was wearing a diminutive black top hat, a monocle over his right eye, and was currently sipping tea from an appropriately-sized porcelain cup with fancy patterns painted on it; all the while he was lifting his pinkie finger, and had his eyes closed and eyebrows raised. Ash and Serena kept staring at him in awe of his impeccable manners. Little sparkling stars were practically shining around him.

Pikachu had been behaving that way ever since he arrived in Lumiose City.

"I'm really confused," Ash said. "Can't seem to figure him out at all."

"Well, there's really nothing wrong with him, is there?"

"I guess not, but it's still very unusual."

"Come on Ash, we are in Lumiose. Clearly Pikachu has allowed the spirit of the city to captivate him. You should let him be. What's more, you should let the spirit of Lumiose captivate you too. Come on, isn't there something that being here makes you want to do?"

Ash knew exactly what Serena meant by that. This Ash was sharply aware of his feelings, although he didn't know how to use them properly. He turned slowly to contemplate her face once more, felt his own face becoming warm, and sensed it turning red.

Their eyes met, dazing each other with the powerful psychic hit of their sudden intimate connection. Blue from one side, brown from the other. Their delicate, beautiful, naked eyes left them completely exposed, so much they could taste each other's tender hesitation. It was a rather peculiar fear—which they couldn't regret feeling—which was currently consuming both of them equally.

Serena moved her mouth to utter his name but her mind couldn't give the order, she couldn't start thinking.

"Ash…"

"So his name is Ash," Jacques said. He was standing next to the two of them, who were still crouching.

The mood was violently disrupted.

Serena was immediately overwhelmed by a visceral kind of anger that, out of pure instinct, she didn't contain.

"You followed me?" she said, sounding more hurt than enraged.

"I did. And I apologize Serena. But please understand that I at least need to do all that I can to try and win your affection."

Ash instinctively stood up. "Are you an actor or something?"

"Hi, how's it going, I'm a good friend of Serena's," Jacques said as he extended his open hand to him. "And to answer your question, I do dabble in the most superficial of the performing arts from time to time, though I'm a writer by trade. Nevertheless I do try to take care of my physical appearance. The girl I want for me deserves someone who cares about that. By the way, Ash, what do you put in your hair?"

"Don't worry," Ash said after shaking his hand, "I wash it regularly."

"With what, is what I mean?"

"With what? Obviously I wash it with water and soap. What else is there?"

"Oh my word. Serena, please tell me this isn't him."

"What, did I say the wrong thing?" Ash said in panic. "I'm sorry. I'll wash it with whatever is better next time, I don't mind. I don't know anything about that kind of stuff. I learned to wash my hair regularly after I spent a lot of time without doing so and it got hard and greenish and I had to cut it really short for a bit. But it's not hard and greenish anymore." Ash took his hat off, rather desperately so. "You can test it if you want."

Barely a second later Serena's hand was carefully feeling Ash's hair. It was coarse, but ultimately pleasant to her abundant and encompassing touch. It was wild, probably more voluminous than hers, and it opposed the soft travel of her hand with Ash's characteristic resilience. It was an explosion of Ash himself right on top of his head.

It was painfully clear for Jacques that Serena was seething with love for Ash, simply from the way she handled herself with him. First it made him deeply sad, with the kind of sadness that's particularly difficult to handle from all the emotional expectations it shattered. Then anger took over.

"Hey Ash, want to have a battle for Serena's favor?" Jacques said loud. "I know that may sound dehumanizing on her part, but think of it as an honorable sparring just between the two of us, without taking Serena into account."

"Of course," Serena said, still mad. "Actually, you can simply forget I am here."

"No, that's not what I meant," Jacques said. "Come on Serena, there are two males here and clearly we are both trainers. You know this is nothing but an ironic exercise."

"Even if you say it's ironic, you're, um, uh… exercising it in a genuine way, and you're trying to excuse yourself by calling it ironic, so it is still bad, right?" Ash said, then he looked at Serena for approval.

She didn't reply.

"So you won't battle me?" Jacques said.

"I didn't say that," Ash hurried to say. "I'll definitely have a match with you right now."

"See!" Jacques pointed at him. "You're awful, ignoring Serena's existence right in front of you, and you're shameless about it Ash."

"No, no. No, the difference between you and me is that I'd battle you without an ulterior motive. I know what the word ulterior means, I think. And I also know this. I shouldn't say that Serena can fight her own battles, because it's tacky. I also know that I technically just said it, but that doesn't count. My point is, that, uh, that I want to have a battle with you because I want to have a battle with you. I don't need any other reason. Whereas you specifically said at the very beginning that the reason you wanted to fight me was to win Serena's, uh, love."

"I said her favor."

"Her favor! That's what I meant to say."

"You know what, let's not do this at all," Jacques said. "Sorry Serena."

"What? No! Let's have a match for fun, come on Jacques."

"Don't let me stop you," Serena said from the sidelines. "Honestly, I don't mind bringing in more opponents for Ash. It seems that these days there are quite a few guys after me, and I'm sure they'd love a chance against him, although not as much as he would love all the training. And I'm pretty sure none of them is really serious about me."

"You best believe I'm dead serious Serena," Jacques said. "You have many of us under your spell, but none of them feel about you like I do. If you'd only let me show you-"

"I simply can't believe that," Serena promptly said. "And it wouldn't make a difference anyway. Seriously, people love to talk, so why bother. In any case, if you don't have to take me into account, please go through with your little match. But I'm still mad at you Jacques."

"Why?"

"Because you followed me here!"

"Oh, I see. I'm sure Ash would've done the same though. Wouldn't you Ash?"

"Yeah, definitely," Ash quickly said.

"Ash!" Serena exclaimed. "Don't agree with the guy I'm mad at. Jeez, there are a lot of things you'll have to learn."

"Why?" Ash honestly asked Serena, who was a bit upset with him so she couldn't find his childish obliviousness endearing. Nevertheless Serena was very surprised when Ash understood the situation on his own, a few seconds later. "Oh! No, wait, I know. Jacques! Shut up, also you're wrong. Of course I wouldn't have done the same as you did. So stop following Serena, otherwise I'll have to destroy you."

Ash then turned to Serena. "Was that better?" he asked.

"Yes," Serena replied with a sweet tone. 

"LET'S DO THIS!" Jacques shouted seething with anger.

"Alright! Oh wait." Ash stopped himself. "I forgot I wasn't allowed to bring the rest of Ash's pokemon—I mean, the rest of my pokemon—with me, so I only have my Pikachu, and I'm not sure if he should fight right now."

"Seriously?" Jacques turned to Serena. "This is the guy? He's already backing out and we haven't even started. Come on Serena, I thought you had better taste."

Serena didn't answer Jacques. She turned to Ash.

"Ash."

"Yes?"

"Destroy him please."

"You got it." Ash crouched down next to Pikachu, who—with an unprecedented intrepidity—was just finishing up his third (his third! the reckless daredevil!) cup of tea. "Pikachu, do you want to have a battle right now?"

Pikachu nodded gallantly with his eyes closed.

"Are you sure? You're okay, you're calm, right? …Are you gonna be cool?"

Pikachu continued nodding very sure of himself, still with his eyes closed and reassuring Ash by waving his tiny hand in a very posh manner.

"Okay, let's go!" Ash stood up. Pikachu walked calmly—still with his eyes closed—and settled himself firmly in front of Ash, right on the grass. "Serena, could you be the referee?"

"I don't know. I thought you weren't going to take me into account for this thing," Serena said with sass.

"No, that was Jacques. But for my part, I'll never stop taking you into account."

"Never ever?"

"No."

Serena blushed. "Um, could you please elaborate on that Ash?"

"Excuse me!" Jacques interrupted. "We're in the middle of an honorable battle for your favor."

"I thought you were just being ironic, but sure," Ash said with a smile. "Call your pokemon."

"Ha!" Jacques grinned and unbuttoned the uppermost button on his shirt, then stuck his hand inside and took out a pokeball, which he released in the air with confidence. Out came his very fluffy and stylish furfrou.

"Begin!" Serena shouted.

And her high-pitched voice, sweet and commanding at the same time, suddenly sparked something deep within Pikachu. He opened his eyes, and in that very instant an overwhelming rage flowed throughout every corner of his little body. In that moment his beady eyes seemed to glow blood red, his muscles grew bigger and electricity ignited all around him. His tiny body suddenly became filled with so much energy that he had to scream on instinct just to release a little bit. But it wasn't enough. Without waiting for an order he headed for the furfrou with a quick attack as he screamed full of rage.

"Furfrou! Avoid the attack!" cried Jacques.

His pokemon obeyed and jumped to its left. However Pikachu noticed just as he was about to strike and instead used the miss to swerve and gain impulse for another attack, which furfrou received in full and with a ruthless dose of overflowing electricity. After enacting what was for all intents and purposes a volt tackle—an attack Pikachu had long stopped using—he gripped fufrou's neck fur with his tiny yellow fists and didn't let go, instead Pikachu released a ruthless thunderbolt, then did a body twist without letting go of furfrou and hit it in the face viciously with an iron tail; then another thunderbolt.

"Okay we give up!" Jacques cried out, once he caught a few seconds of this Pikachu in action. "Get your monster away from my pokemon Ash."

"Pikachu! You said you'd be cool!" Ash shouted, but Pikachu didn't stop.

Ash had no other choice but to jump right into the battlefield. He grabbed Pikachu's comparatively little arms and tried to take him off of the furfrou, a gesture to which Pikachu replied by releasing another merciless thunderbolt which caught both the furfrou and Ash.

"Ah! Pikachu, you're hurting me! This, is, rather, uncouth!"

This last remark finally brought Pikachu out of his blind rage. He instantly let go of the poor furfrou and allowed Ash to place him on the ground.

Serena ran to Ash, her fists were clenched tightly, her eyes so big they almost came out of her face.

"Ash! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ash said with a bit of difficulty, "don't worry, I'm used to this."

Serena grabbed his cheeks with both hands and rubbed them softly, then moved to his shoulders, then to his chest, then to his arms.

"Oh my. That was so scary," she said. "Pikachu did it again."

On the ground Pikachu closed his eyes again. He put his top hat back on, took out his monocle and cleaned it with a small handkerchief, then put it over his eye. He then took his hat off, got on his knees, and bowed before Ash and the furfrou which was still there all messed up. Pikachu bowed all the way until his head was almost touching the ground, signaling how guilty he felt.

"It's okay Pikachu," Ash said.

From the ground Pikachu barked a few sentences that sounded like effusive apologies in a rather posh tone. He kept barking for a bit.

"What is he saying?" Serena asked.

"He's saying he couldn't help it," Ash replied. "He says he still loves battles, but ever since coming here he also started loving maintaining an immaculate etiquette. Those two passions of his have been clashing with each other, forcing him to suppress his uncouth nature, while still having to release it all on the battlefield, turning him into a beast during battles."

"I have to say that sounds kind of adorable, I can't be mad at him."

From afar Jacques called his furfrou back. He couldn't get close to them, especially after seeing how Serena continued stroking Ash's cheeks as she looked at him. He realized no one else had a chance with her. In that sorry moment for Jacques, he wondered if Serena would notice if he left right away, sensed that she wouldn't, then ascertained it when he made his way home unnoticed. She wasn't for him.

"Come with me Ash," Serena said, as she kept rubbing his cheeks. "I'll take care of you."

Something that Serena sought regularly was an excuse to get closer to Ash; currently she had a particularly great excuse because he was mildly hurt. And though he had no trouble walking whatsoever, it seemed like an unquestionable opportunity, or at least an appropriate one, to touch him. So she slid her hand between his torso and his left arm, locked herself tightly on him, and took him away.

Half an hour later they were back at Magenta plaza, laying down on that same spot between the round bushes with pink flowers on them.

Ash laid his satisfied belly right on the soft grass. It was delightfully warm, he felt directly connected with the soil beneath him. All the pain from the thunderbolt was gone. He embedded his elbows on the ground, in front of his head, to support his shoulders and his torso. From there he stared at Serena and Pikachu right next to him. She was kneeling, on one hand she had a large piece of cake on a plate, on the other one was the fork that traveled from the plate all the way to Pikachu's eager mouth. The little gentleman was right in front of her, calm and dignified once more, savoring Serena's dessert with his eyes closed.

Ash had never noticed that her attire contained many different pieces of clothing carefully put together, forming a nuanced, graceful ensemble. Beforehand he'd always seen it as a single, thoroughly unremarkable thing, whatever she happened to be wearing that day. Her brown boots were just as cool as they seemed fashionable, even Ash could tell she needed to have an eye for that stuff in order to know they'd work so well on her. Then he looked at her black thigh high socks, which seemed way too tight on her legs, although she did look really good; perhaps they were much more comfortable than they looked. Then there was her pink skirt which looked really soft; with the way she was kneeling, a part of it fell on the grass. The boots and socks were also right on the grass, clearly she didn't care about getting them stained. She was also wearing a pink sleeveless blouse, with a blue ribbon tied on the collar.

Ash felt like his eyes opened up for the very first time; he had never noticed her in such a way before. A hazy memory came, that blue ribbon had something to do with him: he had given it to her. He was glad that she'd found a use for it, although Ash couldn't remember where he'd gotten the blue ribbon in the first place, regardless of how hard he tried. He then realized that she cared enough about him to wear it so openly, right in front of her, on a regular basis.

What had he done to earn that from her? And why was he only becoming aware of this now?

And the sleeveless coat that she had on top of all of that, a beautiful red coat, was also on the grass—at least the bottom part of it was. It was so cute, she was so cute, Ash thought, that she needed to be kept on a bubble or something. Or at least a blanket needed to be put on the grass. But she was not bothered about spoiling her outfit at all.

Sure, her classy outfit was very much pleasing to the eye, but then, as Ash's gaze traveled upwards he reached her bare shoulders and her cream colored skin, and then he became addicted to the sight of her. And yet, even that ecstatic sensation which filled the entirety of his body, from the tip of his toes to the last strand of his coarse hair, fell dismally short of the explosion of delight by which he was enraptured once he reached her face. He couldn't see a collection of two eyes, a nose and a mouth, but rather a unified whole to which he had to continue staring because he had to continue staring. He simply had to, there was no other motive.

Serena was humming a lively tune. Ash didn't care about what the song was, he only cared to register her sweet voice as vividly as he could. Pikachu would open his mouth, Serena would giggle, either with two or three lovely, quick exhalations, she'd take some of the cake and give it to him, keep it on his little mouth until Pikachu closed it, then she'd softly take the fork out fully clean.

Ash looked at her until all the cake was gone.

Afterwards Pikachu cleaned his mouth with his handkerchief, then tipped his hat at Serena, signaling his gratitude. Presently he put his hands behind his back and slowly made his way towards a nearby tree.

The sudden motion, no matter how slow and overly respectful, took Ash out of his contemplation of Serena, giving him the opportunity to wipe the drool off of his mouth.

"I still have quite a lot of cake," Serena lamented. "What should I do now that he's full?"

"I wish I had Ash's pokemon—I mean my pokemon—with me," Ash lamented back. "But you still have the rest of your pokemon."

"Oh, you're right!" Serena exclaimed with genuine joy.

They felt strong about each other, but the possibility of a relationship still seemed so remote for both, that the mere idea of she feeding him right on the mouth didn't cross their minds.

Ash was mesmerized by her. The moment he was able to think about anything other than Serena's face, was the moment he realized it was dark out.

"I think we should turn in for today," Serena said. "We can meet tomorrow-"

"First thing in the morning?"

"That's what I was about to say."

"Great, it's a da-" Ash stopped himself and the rest of the word came out as a silent exhalation. He remained laying down on the grass like a statue, with his mouth open. Then his face turned red.

"Okay," Serena replied with sudden enthusiasm. "Sure, yeah. I'll let you take me on a date tomorrow. It's set. Okay."

Serena rushed in front of Ash. She had him beneath her and he seemed scared. She reached downwards to kiss him on the cheek, but he didn't move. Her anxiety got the better of her and she stopped mid-travel. They looked at each other, inhaling and exhaling, both completely clueless about what to do.

"Bye!" Serena exclaimed right on Ash's face. Then she ran away and her pokemon followed after her. "See you tomorrow!" she shouted before disappearing behind a building.


	9. Lumiose City, je t'aime (Part 2)

Ash was very scared, so much so that he couldn't move. He remained prone on the grass until a guard told him he had to leave. Had it not been for him, Ash surely would've spent the night there, petrified.

Ash headed to the place were he was staying during his time in Lumiose, with Ramos, on his suite, on the sixtieth floor of Hotel Richissime. The nice doorman at the front opened the giant doors for him. Ash went in, he was still scared. He got on the fancy elevator with mirrors for walls and started sweating. He was trapped in that small space and all he could do was to wait. Ash couldn't take it. He got off on the twentieth floor and took the stairs from there. Still scared, he reached the sixtieth floor faster than he would've done it on the elevator, consequently, he arrived drenched in sweat.

After swiping the card key and slamming the door open, Ash found Ramos sitting in front of the tv, eating noodles out of the plastic cup. Ash grabbed the remote from the couch and turned the tv off.

"Hey, what gives?" Ramos protested.

"Ramos, you have to help me," Ash said.

"What's wrong?"

"Um, well. I'm in love with Serena. It's really bad."

"I see. Maybe you're right."

"What?" Ash replied slightly offended. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we are talking about the same Serena, right? The one who, as soon she heard that you had died, the first thing she did was to make up a plan to bring you back to life?"

"Yes, the very same."

"Aha, and she's the one you're in love with? Don't you want to give this a little more thought?"

"No."

"What do your friends think about her?"

"My friends? Do you mean Pikachu? I have no idea. Most of the time after talking with her I have a smile on my face. Pikachu likes that. That's it. As for everyone else, my so called friends and family—who cares what they think of her. I guess I care what they think in general. But how can I trust their judgment over Serena's? She brought me back to life for goodness sake! At least apparently. What more do you want her to give me? What could anyone else do for me that would surpass her efforts? Now I don't think anyone else has the right to say they know what's better for me."

"Fair enough. I don't think I can argue against that. But then I don't see a problem here."

"There's a problem in here somewhere, definitely," Ash said. "I'm in love with Serena. So much so, that if she asked me to marry her tomorrow I'd agree instantly. But I also don't want to agree so soon, because I want to give her the time, the time she deserves. It sucks because I have nothing to compare the way I feel to, but I just know that she's the one. She likes training with me, she likes traveling and she always looks so happy when she's outside. She's really passionate about her work, her pokemon love her and she loves them even more. She's really fashionable and has a great sense of style, but she doesn't mind laying down on the grass and getting her clothes dirty. She's smart, and beautiful and lovely. And she fed Pikachu for crying out loud. She makes me happy and she makes my pokemon happy. Oh no, I guess I really do love her."

"Wow, you are an… intense guy. But I don't think she'd have a problem waiting for the two of you to get married—at least as long as she knows that you'll marry her someday, I guess. So you don't need to worry about that."

"No, that isn't the problem."

"You just said it was."

"Well it isn't. The real problem is that I don't know what to do. Today I froze every time I looked at her and tomorrow it will be the same. I will blow it. I'll blow it man, I just know it. The same way I know I could spend the rest of my life with her, and I could start tomorrow, I know that I will ruin my chance if I don't do anything. It's something that I know, because I just know. I could wait a long time. That's how much I care. But if I don't do anything, I won't even get the chance to wait, because I will blow it."

"Alright. You should sit down and try to calm down."

"I can't. Don't you know you're not supposed to tell people to calm down?" Ash said with his fist in front of his face.

"I think that's only with women. You're not supposed to tell women to calm down."

"Why? That's wrong. That's very wrong. I have feelings, maybe the rest of the Ashs don't, but I do. And I, am having problems okay. And these are real problems that I have. My problems matter! This is serious, this is about life. This isn't about games, or about training or about hanging out with your friends. This actually matters, can't you see? Do you not see me in front of you? How dare you tell me to calm down?"

"Okay Ash, take it easy. I mean, don't take it easy, but also it's better if you try to think about this carefully, so that you can make the best decision."

"Can you imagine if Serena saw me like this? She would run away from me so fast, and I couldn't blame her. I'd never let her see me like this. Also, apparently there are a lot of guys who want to date her. And they all probably want to battle me because of it. While I do like battles I can barely remember how to train pokemon. I don't remember much from when I was apparently alive—ups! Nevermind, I'm still alive—oh wait, you were there, you know what happened. So yeah. I'm not even the only one of myself, why shouldn't I be worried? There's probably another Ash that could kick my ass in a second. Seriously, I have no idea how the real Ash dealt with this. You know, maybe I should go back to being dead."

"That's impossible, you are alive and you must continue being so. You can only make decisions if you're alive. But don't worry because I may be able to help you."

Ramos stood up from the couch and went to the small kitchen at the back of the big bright room.

"Look," he said. "Normally I would tell you to be yourself. You can't gain anything by pretending to be someone you're not. Your significant other must like you for who you are and be comfortable with you, in order for the two of you to have a good relationship." Ramos turned his back to Ash and tinkered with some tea cups. "However, do you know the saying, 'there's plenty of fish in the sea'?"

"No," Ash replied as he headed to the kitchen. "Is that a saying?"

"Yes, and it's wrong. Fish die pretty quickly, and so will you. Very soon you'll be old and no one will want to be with you. If you have someone you like then there's a chance someone else likes her too, and if you don't hurry they'll take her away from you. So, what I think you should do if you want to get Serena, is to run and get her as soon as you can, otherwise you'll end up alone."

"Okay."

"Does that help you Ash?"

"No. No it doesn't."

"Are you sure? You aren't freaking out anymore."

"I am freaking out," Ash replied with a wicked calm. His expressionless semblance didn't reflect his internal agony.

"Did you know I was what used to be called, an experimental botanist?"

"What's that?"

"It was like a regular botanist, that was also a pharmacist. Because I made beverages from plants. Because that's where all beverages come from."

"I see."

"And experimental botanists aren't a thing anymore, because, well, turns out you can make a lot of beverages using plants. I'm talking about powerful substances. It was the right thing to ban experimental botanists."

"That's cool, but can you just give me tips for my date tomorrow?"

"What I'm saying is, I can give you some tea that's mostly harmless, but will relax you enough so that you can speak with Serena freely and tell her how you feel."

"Okay, will it help me be myself?"

"Sure, I guess. It will help you calm your nerves."

"Oh," Ash said, doubtful.

"I'm doing this for your own good, remember, you have to hurry up and get her before you end up alone."

Ash saw Ramos take out a couple of flasks covered in dust, then helped him open them when Ramos couldn't.

"It's been a long time since I used these ingredients, but this will work, trust me."

In a moment's time, Ash had a bottle full of Ramos' tea in his hand, but he was more doubtful than ever before.

Ash sensed he wouldn't be able to sleep.

The next beautiful day in Lumiose City, Serena headed to meet with Ash beneath the Prism Tower. It was sunny, with some clouds adorning the sky as if shying away from the sun, letting the light come down unadulterated.

There were exactly ten roads that led to the Prism Tower, located right at the center of the circular city. Serena had every single one of them in sight where she was standing, Every street that ended there burst into the open field that was the heart of the city. Serena knew that's where Lumiose's life poured from. She took the time to stare at the tip of the tower well above her, covering her eyes with her hand on her forehead to protect her sight. Then she looked down at the many trees poised around her, and continued doing so for a while, because Ash didn't show up for quite a long time.

He later appeared from within the trees, sporting a particularly intoxicant smile. Even from afar she could see his eyes full of a peace that seemed almost arrogant; eyebrows raised as if any anxious weight had been lifted from them; as well as an effortless smile, with just one side of his lips raised, nevertheless it showcased genuine happiness. He was walking very slowly, with his hands on his pockets. Serena stared attentively, Ash looked irresistible.

Serena couldn't move, she could only wait for him to arrive to her.

"Are you excited to see me?" Ash said quietly, with his eyes still sort of sleepy.

"Yes," she replied smiling.

"That's nice."

"Is it?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm happy to be here too, with a light headache. Couldn't sleep last night."

"Oh no. I partially know how that feels. I don't think I slept a single minute last night," Serena said. It was the truth. "But somehow I feel really great, and full of energy." Once again she wasn't laying.

"Is that so? I wish I were you."

Serena giggled like a little girl.

"I have to say," Ash said calmly. "Lumiose City has some of the nicest pokemon centers I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. Special props to the one on the corner here." Ash pointed backwards with his right thumb, without looking back. "That one is probably my favorite pokemon center out of all of them. I said that to a guy there, and he told me it used to be a restaurant, until the owner died. Even so, I refused to take it down from the number one spot on my favorite pokemon center list. The guy's name was Jeffrey—the guy who I was talking to, not the one who died—I was just talking to him a few minutes ago. Oh man, I just remembered something. You were waiting for me here, weren't you Serena? How late was I?"

"Oh, don't worry," Serena said, "I just got here like five minutes ago."

"That's so nice. I don't believe you though, you were probably here waiting for me for a long time, all the while I was talking to Jeffrey about pokemon centers. That's my mistake, I'll make it up to you."

"Don't worry Ash, you don't have to. Although if you were to insist, you could invite me to dinner. Look at me, we're on our first date, and I'm already thinking about our second one."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. I too get too excited about things and forget to live in the moment, so I can totally relate to you. That's right, I can be introspective about myself too. I'm actually a very nuanced person, even if it doesn't seem that way. Hey look, the ground."

Ash promptly found a spot with nice shade beneath a tree, and went and laid down on his back without any reservations.

Serena was very confused, Ash seemed too downbeat for himself, and she couldn't help but think he was nervous for their date. This made her a bit sad, but more than anything, with the novel way he was behaving, she was eager to delight herself by seeing him in a more vulnerable position, or at the very least, by witnessing another side of him. So she went and laid down right next to him.

Anywhere else, especially in Kanto, they would've looked out of place laying down in the town's square. Luckily for them they were in Kalos, so they fit right in.

Ash closed his eyes and put his hand over his belly. His brain was turned off.

Meanwhile, inside Serena there was a tornado made out of sensations and emotions that caused her heart to pound with violence, spilling drops of a sweet anxiousness all over her chest. Vignettes from a life to be lived appeared above her in front of her eyes. However, the images somehow seemed to be missing something. She knew that, in order for her imaginary future to feel complete, she had to finally make sense of him. She couldn't keep it within her.

"Ash," she said eagerly. "What are your dreams and aspirations? No, wait, tell me what made you cry the most when you were a kid. Wait, no, let's not start with such a somber matter. So, tell me, what were the things that your mom did when you were little, that-"

"What?" Ash interrupted her.

Serena raised, she knelt in front of Ash.

"It's just, I want to know the man I l… the boy I fan… I want to know you."

Ash opened his eyes, he was suddenly worried.

"Don't worry Ash, I'll give you everything," Serena said. "I'll tell you anything you want, everything you've ever wanted to know about me as honestly and candidly as I can, in return. I'm ready to give myself completely to you, and I mean that. Not in a superficial way or anything like that. This isn't about physical games, this is serious. I'm ready to cry in public, just ask."

"Um," Ash hesitated, it was because of fear, "what do you want me to ask you?"

"Anything."

"Anything at all?"

"Yes, whatever you want."

"Um, what's your favorite food?"

"Macarons."

"Oh, I already knew that."

"My turn. What kind of father would you be? I mean, what kind of father do you think you would be?"

"Uh, I don't know."

"Just think about it."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't."

"Yes you can, just think about it."

"I can't."

"Okay, then tell me anything, anything about you. You fascinate me so much, I just want to understand you. I'm ready to make something with you. What did you want to be before you realized you couldn't?"

Ash didn't want to let Serena down, he wanted to give her the perfect answer. But his brain didn't respond, and he was so afraid he had to get out of there.

Ash stood up.

"Can we stop talking for a bit."

"Okay," Serena said. Her eyes opened wide by a terrible feeling. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I know you didn't. Wait, was it a joke?"

"No! Of course not. Why would you think I was joking?"

"I didn't. I knew you weren't joking. But then you said you didn't mean to make me uncomfortable, and of course I knew you didn't mean to, because I know you wouldn't do that. But that's what made me think that it may have been a joke. I asked if it was a joke on impulse. If I had just thought about it a bit more I would've realized you couldn't be joking. I'm sorry, it's hard for me to control my impulses, I really don't want to spoil this."

"Oh, you can't. I really like you."

"I really like you too."

"It's okay if you don't."

Ash knelt in front of her. "I do like you, I like you very much. Why would you think I don't?"

"Because you aren't saying anything to me. I'm right here in front of you, I just want to listen."

"I don't have anything right now. There's nothing for me to say!"

"Then how do you expect me to make sense of you?"

Ash couldn't respond.

Serena stood up and walked away.

During this time Serena was staying with none other than Olympia, who also had a suite on Hotel Richissime, on the floor right above Ramos' suite. Ash refused to say anything—anything at all—to her and she felt awful, so she went there to lock herself for a while.

Days passed. Ash and Serena continued seeing each other, but things weren't the same.

Serena soon lost track of time. She saw him every once in a while but he was always brief. She knew it was because he refused to reveal anything about himself to her.

She went inside Olympia's big study room. The four walls were encompassed by full bookcases. A wooden ladder there was needed to reach the books on the last shelf at the top. A chandelier that looked like a spiral made out of shining crystals hanged from the ceiling well above the ground. The floor was of a very soft purple rug; Serena knew just how soft it was because she was wearing socks. Right at the center of the room was Olympia, sitting on her giant rustic desk, carefully reading a couple of loose pages. The last thing on the room—other than piles of more books scattered around—was a very luxurious red velvet sofa, placed to the left of Olympia's desk. Serena went and dropped herself on her back, with her mouth open and her eyes closed. On her very first day of living with Olympia she felt too nervous to even take a step. Now, her t-shirt was lifted so her belly button was showing, as she laid comfortably on the sofa, still suffering from love.

"Ash is so pure. I just want to take care of him. Past that, I just want to be near him. I'd be okay with just being next to him, not even all the time, but most of the time. And I do have to be the only one for him. If I am to be the one for him, that is. Oh dear. How I wish to be the one. I'd be okay with just being near him. All I need is for him to say anything. I'm sure there are a lot of things he could say to me, many anecdotes which I'm eager to listen to, like, when the doctor who brought him into the world spanked him to make him breath for the first time, it could be that Ash raised his little baby fist whilst sporting a big smile on his face, and said: thanks doctor, and good job with that spank, I knew you could do it! Or something of the sort. I don't know, it could be anything. This is horrible, he is horrible. Even now that he refuses to speak, even when he acts like a scoundrel, when he ignores me and makes me mad, even then I can't help but love him. He is horrible. I just want to make sense of him."

Olympia put the pages on the desk and released a deep sigh.

"Reading is an act of love," she said.

"What?" Serena said.

"One book represents one relationship. So it figures, reading so many books at a time doesn't allow you to give each of them the love they deserve. Often I forget this, but when I remember I realize I must stop reading so much so quickly. Reading is a love experience."

"Okay."

"You don't believe me?"

"That's not it. After all, you are the expert."

"Why do you read books Serena?"

"Why do I read books? Well, because I like it. Sometimes because I have to."

"Is that it? Because you like it? Don't you like placing yourself in the story, putting yourself in the shoes of the heroine and think of what you'd do if you were in her situation? Don't you want to make that story yours?"

"Well yeah, of course I like doing that."

"Don't you like figuring out what's going to happen before you reach the end? Don't you like picking a favorite character and imagining him as your husband?"

"No. I've never had to do that with a fictional character."

Serena caught the implication beneath her words and blushed. Thankfully for her, she thought, Olympia knew all about her love already.

"There are many reasons why people read. Many people start reading a book with a clear objective already on their mind. There are many objectives you can have when you put a text in front of you. To enrich your vocabulary; to fulfill a very specific desire of yours; to improve your analytical and observational skills; to find orthographic and grammatical errors; to figure out the author's hidden feelings; to make sure they are making proper use of the narrative tools you've learned about; to see what everyone else is talking about; to prove a theory that you've come up with, which you really want to be true; to write about what you'll read; to have something to say about it; to win a bet."

"To win a bet?"

"You'd be surprised. Tell me Serena, are you the kind of person that seeks to analyze a book as arduously as you can, as soon as you open it? Sometimes—although for some people it is all of their life—you find yourself at a stage where, as soon as you pick up a book, you begin interpreting every single sentence, evaluating how much sense it makes, looking for mistakes, seeing how well it fits with your established code of quality, or simply looking for the theme of the story, and identifying the protagonist. Some people start doing all of this from the very first page. Their eyes are dead set on one thing and one thing only. However, tragically, when you do this, you can only look at that one thing. You miss the rest, you miss the whole, you miss the complete being that's there in front of you. By focusing on trying to make sense of this book, you can't have a real relationship with it. If you start reading by only looking at a part of it, that's all you can see, that's all that book is to you. That means, you're voluntarily blinding yourself from what's really there. You're reading, but you're not in a relationship with that book. Instead the words are there only to accomplish your objective. You can only have a relationship, a real relationship, with something that is alive."

"I'm sorry Olympia, I'm not sure I understand."

"Think of a book as a little piplup, a cute little piplup right in front of you. Starting your relationship with it by trying to make sense of every single little piece of him, is the same as trying to see what's inside of him. If you pick him apart to understand every little piece of him, and then you try and put him back together, well, you'll find out that the little piplup isn't quite the same as it was before. At the very least, this way you'll know what's inside of it, but as I said, you can only have a real relationship with something that is alive. Books are very personal collections of words that together form something magical, something wonderful, something that can hold many different meanings for many different people. So when you reduce that to a rational, neatly organized wall of text, well, while you may find out that you've finally made sense of it, you'll also find out that it has also lost its magic, and you can't reach it anymore."

"Okay. How do I avoid doing that to myself?"

"A book is a life that's there to be experienced, slowly, tenderly, and with care. You have to let the words come to you, you have to wait for the story and the characters to reveal themselves to you. Remember, you can only know what the book is about, and who the protagonist is, once you reach the end of the book. What you want is to share an experience with the book, instead of trying to understand the book as soon as you meet it. You can only immerse yourself inside a story while that story is alive. Don't kill it by trying to understand it as soon as you lift the cover up. Let it come to you. If you do, you'll find the magic, the inspiration, the feels, the wonder of experiencing another life. Why do people read Serena? You know it, say it with me. To experience life through another person's eyes. To immerse yourself within another person's dream. To lose yourself in somebody else's fantasy. Simply to appreciate the life in front of you for what it is on its own."

"That's not fair," Serena said. "I couldn't say it with you because I didn't know it."

"Well, now you know."

"Yeah. Thanks for telling me why people read books."

"Serena. I wasn't talking about books."

Serena felt like her mind opened at the top of her head, just as her mouth was a round circle, and her naked eyes shone brightly. "Oh!"

"I mean, I was talking about books. But it's the same with people I guess. Don't think about it as 'you and your relationship with that person'. Instead, it's about you, and about a person that's in front of you, a complete person, whom you don't want to make into just a boyfriend, or just a stepping stone, just a chore, an objective. No, you want that person to be themselves in front of you. You want to love them for what they are. Don't try to interpret him, just experience him. Let him come to you, slowly, like a shy puppy that wants a home inside of you, but that will run away at any sudden movement from you. You have a whole life to know every little piece of him, but he has to be alive in order for you to accomplish that."

Serena went and hugged Olympia really hard.

Meanwhile, one floor below.

Ramos was eating a sandwich in front of the tv when Ash arrived. He had gone to the store to buy more noodles and peanut butter.

"Hey, sorry I haven't been here much," Ramos said. "The gym had me pretty busy these past few days. By the way, I heard something big happened in Alola. Figured I should tell you, but only if you wanted to know. It's up to you Ash. Do you want to hear it?"

"No," Ash said, then dropped his body on the couch next to Ramos.

"Okay, yeah, maybe it's better that way. So, how did the tea work?"

"Well-"

"Is Serena your girlfriend now?"

"No, we stopped hanging out the way we used to."

"Really? No way! I honestly thought the tea would work, I'm really sorry Ash."

"Don't be, I never drank the tea."

"Oh man, we have to think of something else before time runs out. Let me see, I think there's a mushroom that… Wait a minute, what do you mean you never drank the tea?"

"I never drank it. I do want to talk to her, but I want to do it as my real self."

"You said you knew you'd ruin your chance. Did you even go on a date with her last week?"

"Yeah, I did. But that day I just turned my brain off. The night before I was so stressed out that I couldn't sleep, it was too much for me so I just stopped caring. It actually worked, I think, but then she started asking me a bunch of questions that I didn't know how to answer. I never had to think about anything like that, and I ended up panicking so much that I couldn't say anything."

"You idiot! I told you, opportunities for guys like you, idiots, are hard to come by. And you gotta do it fast, cause if you don't go get her soon somebody else will, very soon."

"I know, I'm going to do it soon. I think I've finally figured out what kind of father I'd be."

"What are you talking about?"

"Serena asked me that and I didn't know how to answer."

"You're an idiot. Where's the tea?"

"I put it on the fridge, behind your vitamins."

Ramos stood up as fast as he could, which, generally speaking, was moderately fast. He ran to the fridge, liberally threw his vitamins out, grabbed the bottle full of tea, and rushed back to the couch.

"You're going to drink this, and then you're going up there to confess your love for Serena, right now."

"No, that's not the way-"

"Yes!"

Ramos opened the bottle and tried to shove it on Ash's mouth. Ash didn't relate fragility to old age, but he was utterly surprised when he found Ramos easily overpowering him, and then some of the tea went into his mouth.

Ash started smacking Ramos' face until he hit the nose rather hard and Ramos had to pull away. Ash promptly kicked the bottle out of his hand, then spit the tea right into his face.

"What's wrong with you Ramos!"

"What's wrong with me? I'm trying to help you. You're the one stuck on the couch while Serena's many admirers are just waiting for her to grow tired of your hesitation."

"But this isn't the way to do this!" Ash exclaimed as he stood up. "You said it, I can't gain anything if I'm not myself around her. I can't stand it, it's too much for me. I've known her for such a long time, I've shared so much with her. And just now I've started to notice her. It isn't fair to anyone. She told me she has liked me for so long—years. Knowing this about her hurts me so much, but even right now, I can't help but think that's just because of how I feel about her now. If I didn't love her, her feelings wouldn't have bothered me too much. What's worse, I'm the one who's ignored her for all this time. What am I supposed to do now? Should I just say, I like you now, now we can be boyfriend and girlfriend? Now, when I feel like it. I guess, there's nothing else for me. I have to go there and surrender myself to her. She said she'd give herself completely to me, and I want to do the same. But I want to give myself to Serena in the most genuine way I can."

Ramos just stood there, unsure of what to do. "You're a bit too intense Ash."

"Yeah, well so is she and I love that about her. When she likes someone she doesn't just stop, and I want to do the same."

"I'm sorry," Ramos said, after listening to Ash. "I shouldn't have acted like that. I really thought I was simply trying to help, but that was very wrong of me. I'll never try to make you do something you don't want to do again."

"I understand, and I forgive you. But I think I'm gonna take a walk."

"Do come back at some point. I promise I'll take it easy."

"Sure," Ash said. Then he went out the door hoping to find the right words for Serena.

Twenty minutes later Serena knocked on Ramos' door. He opened it and found her smiling from ear to ear.

"Is Ash around?" Serena said with a vibrant tone.

"He just went out for a walk," Ramos replied.

"Oh, I see." Her sight fell, the disappointment was all too clear. "Maybe it's for the better, I should give him some time. I just realized I shouldn't rush things with him, and yet I had to run up here right away."

"No, trust me, he wants to see you, it's a good thing, that's all I will say," Ramos added. "Look, the truth is I don't know much about this. If you do happen to see Ash, please tell him that he's fine as he is, or something like that. I'm sure he'd really like to hear that right now, and it will take some stress out of him, some of which is my fault. He can't be that far yet."

"Sure, I will do that," Serena said. Then she ran to the elevator.

Her mind was made up. She wanted to give him the time, all the time he needed. All of the sudden it was so easy. If she wanted to give him everything, it would be wrong not to include time, especially if that personal deal was to be made out of true love. Nevertheless right then she really wanted to see him, if only to tell him that she loved him just the way he was. She was completely unaware of how tacky that would sound, perhaps Serena was a tacky, obsessive person in general, but she didn't lie to herself about anything, and she knew her love was true.

She ran through the streets made out of brick looking for Ash, it was getting late. Serena felt free, her heart was pounding once again but this time the beating wasn't violent, there was no anxiousness or dread, there was just love. She ran through Lumiose as the night fell upon her and some light rain caressed her only pleasantly, feeling herself light like never before. All of the sudden she tripped. She was on her way to the ground when a hand caught her by the arm, and stopped her from feeling any pain. She was sure it was Ash, so she turned to face her rescuer with a smile full of joy so pure she almost cried from it. That smile disappeared when her eyes processed the face of the man in front of her. It was a tall, dark and handsome man she knew well, Alain, whose eyes were clearly pleased to be staring at her. Alain, who had beaten Ash on the Kalos League final a while ago. He was a very handsome champion, Serena couldn't deny that. He was also the one who had robbed her of the opportunity of seeing Ash being crowned the Kalos champion, with her, proudly Kalosian, proudly cheering him on right there on the stadium. For this irreparable offense she would never forgive him.

"Careful," Alain said with his irreparably serious tone.

"Yes, thanks a lot," she replied.

"So how are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine. I'm actually looking for Ash, have you seen him?"

"I haven't," Alain replied, a bit disheartened. "Serena, look, I know you're pinning for someone already but, and I hope this doesn't make you uncomfortable, that's the last thing I want, but, I really wanted to tell you that I think you're a really great person, and I'd be very glad if I could get to know you a bit better, maybe over coffee some time next week. I hope you don't think I'm too forward."

Suddenly, Serena had her hands together in front of her chest. She was preparing her latest rejection. She instinctively knew that getting those words out had been difficult for Alain, and his attempt to woo her had been one of the best, so she planned to let him down as gently as she could muster, in spite of how much she resented him for beating Ash.

Coincidentally, Ash himself was standing rather close to them in that very moment, when Alain's hand was on Serena's shoulder. Serena sensed his presence, her heart beat faster, her eyes were psychically directed towards him, and when she saw him her tightly-closed lips moved to make a smile.

"You move fast," Ash then said.

Tears flowed to Serena's eyes, a nod was suddenly in her throat and with an anxious sigh she felt it horribly. She turned around and tried to run.

Alain grabbed her hand.

Serena turned to him. "It's not you," she said with a hurt tone, but with an angry pair of eyes, right at Alain.

Scared of her, Alain released Serena and she resumed her tearful escape.

Alain felt a righteous sense of justice take over him, fueled by rage. He turned to Ash, who looked like a statue filled with regret.

"You move fast?" Alain said.

Ash grabbed his face as if wanting to take his eyes out.

"Do you know what you just did to her?"

"I do. I hurt her, it's the last thing I wanted to do."

"Well you did it. I didn't, you did it."

"I know. I messed up. I messed up really bad. It was a joke-"

"A JOKE?

"It was like a joke that wasn't a joke but something you still say for no other reason. Like something that comes out of your mouth without being processed by your brain. An impulse that you can only notice after it's too late. Something that doesn't make sense but you still have to say because you have to say it. There's no other motive. Of course I didn't mean it, but believe me, it just came out."

"Yeah, I believe you," Alain said with a righteous rage.

"I'll never do that again. I'll never do that again regardless of what happens, if she even allows me near her again."

"I know you won't."

"Yeah, there's a reason I want to dedicate my life to…" Ash stopped to process Alain's words. "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to make sure you never hurt Serena again."

"No, but I won't hurt her," Ash said. "That's something of which I have to make sure myself, and I want to."

"Still, let me leave you with something. Do you have a pokemon on you?"

"Yeah," Ash said, hesitantly.

"Good," Alain said, then he cracked his knuckles.

Serena didn't have an umbrella, she didn't even have her hat with her. But at least she didn't need an excuse for her face being wet. The city wasn't the same anymore. Serena knew its every corner, she knew exactly what would be there without having to turn and look.

She would give anything to forget everything about Lumiose, just so she could experience it for the first time all over again.

She was full of guilt, she couldn't bear the thought that Ash thought of her that way. It was something she couldn't let go. For a long time she woke up every morning and worked to make herself look good for him. Then they separated and she learned to look good for herself. Once they met again she had to admit, even if she didn't want to, that she worked extra hard on her appearance just to see the look on his eyes, when he saw her in the morning. It was for Ash, and it was for her city, for her beautiful city. Sadly, there were a lot of other eyes around. She didn't care about any of them, but they still could hurt her.

Her gloomy walk at night took Serena all the way to the river that crossed right through the middle of Lumiose. She crossed the bridge and then went down the stairs at the edge to get into the river bank. Then she noticed it was full of couples. Myriads of people walking and enjoying their love by the river. She wasn't in the mood to withstand that so she went back to the stairs at the edge of the bridge, and sat on the third step from the top. From there she watched the river flow.

She would've stayed there watching the river until somebody forced her to leave.

"Hey," Serena heard. It was obvious. The cadence, the tone, the raspiness, it didn't matter whether he was whispering in her ear or shouting from afar, she would always recognize Ash Ketchum's voice.

"Hey," she said back, after finding she didn't have the energy to walk away.

"I remember everything you've said to me these past few weeks," Ash said. "Everything. You can test me."

"No thanks," Serena said. She then turned to him, and saw Ash on the bridge, resting his elbows on top of the parapet. She turned away from him, but then gave him another look when she noticed his cheek was covered in dirt.

Serena turned her back at him once more and looked at the river. "What happened to you?"

"I had to have a match with Alain. For the first time in my life, I think, I tried to refuse it, but he did not let me. I didn't fair very well."

"So you lost?"

"Not exactly, Pikachu somehow defeated Alain's mega-charizard, but Alain beat me up himself. He got a few hits in before Pikachu roasted him with a thunderbolt. It's okay, I called him uncouth again and he apologized."

"I see."

"I still don't have anything to say to you," Ash said.

Serena's eyes opened in disbelief. Once again she had to look at him.

"I have nothing to say to you, except that I am truly sorry for what I said. I have no excuse, it is certainly not what I think about you. I cannot think very much, I never could, but out of all the things I think about you, that's not one of them. Other than that I have nothing to say, except, maybe, that I can't stand thinking that if you still let me be around you, I'll end up saying something stupid on impulse that will hurt your feelings again, which I just know will happen because I am an idiot and I can't stop being one. Now I have nothing else to say to you, except that I have to make sure you are happy every hour of every day, and I have to do it because I just do. Don't worry, there's nothing more, but, it pains me to know that there will be moments were you'll be sad, scared, and hurt, and I won't be able to do anything about it. That's it though, I have nothing else to say, except that I think I'll be the kind of dad who lets his kids do anything. I try to see myself in the position of having to say no to them, and I know there's no way I could do that. I don't think I could say no to any kid right now. Other than that, I guess there's nothing, except that I can't stand you for forcing me to be alive in front of you. You were the one who did it. I almost want to hate you for it. But I could never, anyway. If you still wanted me, I'd give you everything. Other than that, I guess there's really nothing else for me to say, except that, even after I said I wanted to make you happy, I had to betray myself by making you listen to me whine."

"But that's all I've ever wanted from you," Serena said, looking straight at him.

She wiped the tears from her face as she hid a smile full of pure joy. She stood up, ran to the bridge to face Ash, and cleaned the dirt off of his cheek with her hand.

"And I was just getting ready to wait all of my life for you to speak," she said.

Ash took a step towards her. Once again he was lost in her face, although this time he wasn't paralyzed, and, more importantly, now he knew she was his.

"Ash, I want you to be yourself in front of me, for the rest of my life. But if you come any closer I won't resist giving you a hug, and if you let me, I won't ever let go of you."

Ash took another step, Serena jumped at him and engulfed him within her arms. She held him tightly, closed her eyes, and immersed herself inside of him. She felt his warmth, breathed Ash's essence in, and realized just how delightful it was to love someone for who they are.

A few hours later, on her study room, Olympia burned the pages she had already read a hundred times. She dropped them on the trash can next to her desk before the fire could reach her fingers, and realized it was for nothing. She could see the future, she knew hers was already written and she couldn't do anything about it. Curiosity had gotten the better of her, although now she regretted obtaining the answer. She felt an evil presence in the room and closed her eyes, it was over, at least for her. Whatever happened next was entirely out of her control. She opened them again and saw a pair of giant red eyes staring at her, calm, but still filled with malice, as if pitying her for knowing what would happen. A purple flame appeared between the eyes, as if someone were cutting the fabric of the reality in front of her with a burning knife. Then it opened as a circle of the same color. At least it was her favorite.

"What will you do to Ash?" Olympia asked.

Giratina's face appeared inside the portal. "I'm the one keeping him safe," it said.

Olympia smiled, though her face showed her complete surrender. She lamented every moment as Giratina's face came through the portal, then opened its alien mouth. Olympia couldn't move. Finally she closed her eyes and exhaled for the last time before Giratina swallowed her whole.

* * *

**This chapter got way too long so that's the only reason I split it into two parts. While I wanted to write sort of vignettes that could perhaps be considered one-shots, this is supposed to be mainly a lineal story. Again this one went a bit too long and I guess there's a reason for it although I'd rather keep that sort of a secret for now. But what I really wanted to say here is that the next chapter probably won't be nowhere near as long, and will be closer to the previous ones in terms of length, maybe even a bit shorter. I mean, that's what I said to myself after the Misty chapter, because at first I didn't mean to make it that long, and they've only gotten longer afterwards, but anyway, bye.**


	10. Some Weeks In Hoenn (Part 1)

Petalburg City, Hoenn, one week after the first incident. Ashs remaining: 13.

May simply wanted to enjoy her time with Ash. It was the only reason why she brought him to Hoenn with her. She had no idea her dad out of all people would be the one to ruin her plans.

Near Petalburg City, there was a collection of hills that hid a particularly beautiful valley within them. There the ground seemed more alive than everywhere else. Flowers of many different colors grew tall and healthy all over the place, robust trees created many pleasant shades, and the grass made for a vast, all-natural bed that was just as comfortable as the most luxurious mattresses. When it was sunny, which was most of the time, both the flora and the water from the lake would glow brightly, producing a spectacle for the eyes. Mornings at sunrise were specially striking sights.

Norman, Leader of the Petalburg City Gym, as well as May's dad, had named this beautiful piece of nature hidden within the hills The Sanctuary. Not only that, he also had made it his personal training ground, and had built a large, quadrilateral fighting arena, made out of white stone, right in the middle of the valley. A very popular tournament organized by Norman himself was celebrated here every year, and this year's iteration happened to be just a few weeks away.

May wanted her dad to disappear from the valley for a while so she could enjoy it with Ash. However, when the boy from Kanto saw Norman training there one morning, and looked at him practicing finishing moves along with many of his normal type pokemon, Ash instantly decided that he too would train there every morning with him. And so Norman was able to remain in his Sanctuary, now with two new apprentices eager to learn.

From the bed made out of grass, May observed Ash and Pikachu carefully; the little pokemon seemed much more sure of himself. Pikachu's mouth was made into an aggressive pout that showcased his intense focus. He kept his eyes staring at the front of him with a restrained kind of anger, as if demanding his body to perform with the utmost perfection. Keeping his elbows close to his body, he practiced the right stances for his arms with a dexterous technique. Meanwhile Ash tried to imitate him as best as he could, and Norman evaluated their form while sitting with his legs crossed on the gound.

All the while, May kept looking at them while resting pleasantly on the grass, wishing the two of them would stop training and go have fun with her instead.

"Never use your feet to kick too high, otherwise you'll leave yourself open to be hit in your bits," Norman said.

"Yes!" Ash exclaimed, and Pikachu barked in unison with him, both fully focused.

Ash tried his best but his movements were rather sloppy, he clearly wasn't in tune with his body. Still, his arms flowed from side to side in a way that at least looked good, even graceful, as if he had given his body completely to the soft wind that was blowing. More than the light training of his mind and body, it looked like he was performing a very slow ceremonial dance, way too slow for May's liking.

Ash stared at the back of his hand as it traveled towards the right position, with nature's healthy green and the sky's clear blue above it as a pleasant background. Then his hand stopped, with his arm completely stretched, and his palm open pretty much directly at May, who was a bit far from him, nevertheless she could see the lines in his palm perfectly well. They stared at each other for a few seconds, Norman had lowered his head and closed his eyes to meditate by then, when Ash suddenly found May laying down pleasurably, right in the middle of that beautiful place. She wasn't wearing her usual bandana, nor her gloves, nor her shoes. Her hand was on her cheek, and her bright eyes were staring back at Ash rather carelessly.

In that moment it became clear to May—with the way Ash was looking back at her—that Ash wanted her. All of the sudden, she found herself inviting him with her eyes, quietly, on instinct. The time and the place simply lent themselves for that. The atmosphere dissolved her inhibition. However, Ash didn't move a muscle, and May took notice of herself riding high on that sudden instinct, and it made her embarrassed.

She looked away.

"Somebody's coming," Norman said with his eyes still closed.

He raised his head and turned his alert senses towards the incoming individual. The Sanctuary was open to anyone who wanted to visit; however, seeing as Norman was almost always there, as he was Petalburg's strongest trainer by far, and seeing as he'd challenge everyone who dared to appear to a match, pretty much no one came by. So the Sanctuary was almost always empty except for Norman and sometimes May, who seemed to be the only one who could say no to Norman's challenges and get away with it.

Drew, coordinator, May's frequent rival as well as friend, came down from one of the hills, made his way through the grass, through the flowers, while making sure not to step on any of them, and slowly approached the gathered group. His fair skin was impeccable, his hair was perfectly combed, clearly styled to look like he hadn't made any effort with it. He put his hand up to say hi and walked up to the Gym Leader. As soon as he got in front of Norman, who was still sitting on the grass, Drew knelt down and bowed all the way until his face was facing the ground.

"Please make me your apprentice," Drew said. "I want to learn how to battle."

"Why?" May asked with genuine curiosity. "You're a coordinator, and you've said many times that battles are too ugly for your taste."

Drew raised his head. "I want to enter this year's Tournament in the Valley. Actually, I want to win it."

"Okay, but why?"

"Well," Drew stopped, and tried to find the right words to express himself. "I want to, expand my horizons. I want to broaden the kind of experiences to which I subject myself in order to get better, I want to open, my, um, mind and such."

To May, hearing that from Drew was enough to convince her of his intentions—and it didn't seem like a big deal—but to Ash, he sounded incredibly disingenuous. He sensed Drew had an ulterior motive for being there, and it just so happened that May had brought Ash to Hoenn merely a few days ago. The timing of his decision seemed all too peculiar.

"I don't have much to teach," Norman said. "But I can show you a way for you to become as strong as you want to be. Give me a minute." He stood up.

A few minutes later Norman was once more sitting with his legs crossed. However, this time he was sitting at the very edge of the arena, but with his back towards it. Right in the middle of the arena were two of his vigoroth, who had been blindfolded as per Norman's orders. He had also ordered that two piles of blocks made out of concrete be placed at random zones of the arena. And so, after Norman had sat down and the vigoroth had been blindfolded, one pile of blocks was placed more to the left and the other one to the right, so none of them could see exactly where the piles had been set.

Then, May, Ash and Drew sat all the way on the other side of the arena, looking at the two blindfolded vigoroth, as well as at Norman's back behind the pokemon.

"Are you ready?" Norman said with his eyes closed.

"Yes," the three replied in unison.

Norman shouted with vigor. The two vigoroth jumped very high up at the same time, then fiercely came down with their arms ready to strike directly at the piles of bricks, each of them hitting one of the piles with perfect accuracy, shattering every single one of the blocks all the way to the ground with just one contact.

The three spectators were amazed, they shouted and clapped with energy, especially Ash.

"How did you do that?" Drew asked Norman, who still had his back turned to them.

"With training," Norman replied with his eyes still closed.

"No, I get that, but what I mean is, how did you actually command your pokemon to know exactly where the blocks of concrete would be?"

"I trained a lot."

"Yes," Drew pressed, "but, what are the specifics that went into the process which started with you sitting down and closing your eyes and shouting, and ended with your pokemon jumping exactly to the right spot?"

Norman remained quiet for a few seconds. Then he shouted vigorously once more. Immediately one of the blindfolded vigoroth moved towards Drew, promptly grabbed him by the waist and put him over his shoulder, all the while Drew freaked out and protested. The still-blindfolded vigoroth took him all the way to a nearby bush, dropped him right on it, and pushed Drew's head down until only his hair was visible over the bush.

Meanwhile Ash and May continued sitting in dumbfounded silence.

"Is he in the bush yet?" Norman asked.

"Yes," May replied casually.

"Good." Norman opened his eyes, calmly stood up, and faced Ash and May. "We'll continue our training tomorrow. Make sure to tell Drew."

"You're seriously going to accept him as your apprentice?" Ash asked.

"That's up to him," Norman said. Then he made his way out of the valley while Ash and May kept sitting on the grass.

Ash was angry and a bit nervous. He realized Drew wouldn't simply disappear after Norman put him in a bush for being annoying. As he was still trying to accept this troubling fact, Drew walked toward the couple with a relaxed smile, at the same time he cleaned leaves off of his clothes.

"Don't worry, I was able to hear Norman from the bush, so you don't need to tell me anything," Drew said.

"Norman is a very demanding teacher," Ash said. "His regimen requires a lot of discipline from students. Actually, I've heard many people quit after just a day of training with him."

"Thank you for worrying about me Ash, but I can assure you I'll be able to handle whatever Norman throws my way. But there will be plenty of time to deal with that." Drew turned to May. "So, May, do you want to grab lunch later?"

"Sure," May replied with a lively smile.

"Cool," Drew added. He then made his way out of the valley with a rather cocky grin on his face, leaving a trail of leaves that kept coming out of his pants as he walked.

"What the heck?" Ash said to May once he was alone with her.

"What is it Ash?" she obliviously replied.

"I thought you had brought me here because you liked me."

"I did. I do."

"So why did you agree to go on a date with Drew?"

"When, just now? That's not what I did. He's my friend, sometimes we have lunch together."

"Just with him?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes it's in a group. I hang out with a lot of people."

"What! I didn't know anything about this."

"That's because you didn't care. You've never bothered to ask me about my friends."

Ash's eyes opened wide. "But that wasn't me," he exclaimed, "I mean, it was, but not really."

"What do you mean? What changed?"

"What changed? Obviously I died."

"No you didn't," May quickly replied.

"Yes I did."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because… because you brought me back to life."

"Actually I had very little to do with it, although I'm beyond happy with the result. But you didn't really die," May said. "What happened, is that you suddenly started noticing me, in a way you'd never done it before. Now you care about me the way I care about you. And because of that, now we both know what jealousy feels like. Isn't that so?"

"Well…"

"Do you care about me?"

"Of course I do," Ash said decisively.

"And are you jealous of Drew? Do you want me to cancel my plans with him?"

"I guess I do."

"I see. Then, should I start asking you who I can and cannot have lunch with?"

"No! That's not what I mean."

"Why not? I understand why you'd want me to do that."

"But that's not what I want," he hurried to say.

"Are you going to tell me it wouldn't be better for you, if you could carry me in your pocket all the time, so that you could look at me and hold me whenever you wanted?"

"No, no it wouldn't. I want you to be yourself, and make your own choices freely. That's the right answer, correct?"

"Yes it is," May said. "I assure you that keeping me inside of a pokeball wouldn't be fun for either of us. If you told me what to do all the time, if you controlled my every move, you wouldn't be surprised if I did this."

May held Ash's cheek and led him towards her. She eyed his lips, closed her eyes and went for him with her mouth open. Ash was startled, but he managed to receive her lips by making an innocent peck of his own. May released a lighthearted exhalation from the awkward contact, but quickly took charge as she started licking Ash's lips softly. He quickly lost himself in what was for that Ash at that point a completely alien delight—as alien as it was delightful. May's inexperienced tongue was forceful enough to separate his lips, moving his jaw downwards in the process, and so their delight multiplied, enabling every part of their mouths, both inside and outside, to enjoy their kiss—their making out—individually.

Separating, both Ash and May took some time before opening their eyes.

Afterwards Ash kept his mouth open. May was just as dumbfounded as he obviously was, but there was no way she'd ever let him know this.

"See," May said with a smile.

Then she stood up and ran away, leaving Ash sitting on the grass with his mouth open.

Half an hour later he found himself walking through Petalburg's beautiful plains. That was certainly the real Petalburg. The city was big, affluent and therefore very influential for Hoenn's image, but it didn't compare to the majestic countryside in any way. After all, that's where May lived. And so Ash walked through the rural streets with his shoes untied, with a dazed smile on his face, and his hat tilted to the side so much it almost fell off his head. He had just received another lengthy kiss from May, and right afterwards she had run off once more, when she sensed she'd start giggling uncontrollably from the excitement.

Ash stumbled into Drew as the latter was coming out of the pokemart. Neither of them was happy to see one another, although Ash couldn't help but continue smiling.

"Hey Drew, long time no see," Ash said. "Remember when Norman put you inside of a bush? Because I do."

"It happened like thirty minutes ago," Drew replied.

"So you do remember?"

"…Yes."

"Okay. I just wanted to make sure you remember. It happened like thirty minutes ago. It would be very strange to hear you say that you don't remember. If you'd said you didn't, I would've told you to get your brain checked."

"Again, thank you so much for worrying about me Ash. It's nice to know that you care about me. I even feel guilty now, for knowing that I don't think about your health they way you obviously think about mine. Actually, I don't ever think about you at all."

"Yeah, so, hey Drew, why exactly do you want to enter the tournament?"

"I already told you Ash."

"But why now? I asked May and she said you've never participated in any of the past tournaments. Then there's the fact that I just became Norman's apprentice, and that May brought me here just a few days ago."

"Okay Ash, you got me-"

"Ha! I knew it! It's obvious that you like May," Ash said as he effusively pointed at Drew with his right hand. "It's obvious that when she brought me here you suddenly started noticing her in a way you'd never done it before, and now you're jealous!"

Drew's face got red, however, he also got mad. "I was going to say that I heard Norman had finally allowed someone to train with him, and because of that I'd decided to ask him if I could train with him too! But if you're going to be like that, I won't contain myself anymore then. I've liked May for much longer than you. I know you Ash, you had never been interested in her before. You didn't care about girls, in fact you didn't care about anyone other than you, and maybe your pokemon too but who knows, really. Clearly it is you who just started noticing her, but the fact is that I know her much better than you do, and as a fellow coordinator, I have much more in common with her."

"Oh yeah? Well May kissed me just minutes ago!" Ash shouted loudly.

"Yeah right, there's no way that happened."

"But it did."

"No it didn't."

"Yes it did."

"I'm not going to play this game with you Ash."

"Okay, but she did kiss me."

"No she didn't!"

"Yes she did."

"Look." Exasperated, Drew pointed back at Ash. "Maybe you can act like a child all you want and get away with it. And maybe you're stronger than me. But guess what, I'm the one who's going to have lunch with May today."

"Oh, I just asked her if I could go too and she said yes."

Drew gasped, his eyes opened wide in disbelief, and sudden dread. After the arrant shock passed he gave an acknowledging look to Ash. "Well played," he said with his chin up, pouting, and glaring at his opponent with his eyes half-open. Then he walked away.

"See you at lunch," Ash shouted at him—surprisingly, not in a malicious way.

However, Drew felt the wound. At the same time he remembered something that was of extreme importance to him. He turned to Ash again.

"Hey, are you okay with berry juice?" Drew shouted. "I always get to the restaurant first and so I order drinks for everyone."

"Um, yeah that's fine," Ash replied. "Thanks."

"No problem," Drew replied. He had to, his organizational role mattered to him more than the disdain he felt for Ash.

Lunch ensued. Some of May's friends took part in it. A couple of lively girls as well as a short, quiet guy, the three of them natives from Petalburg.

Ash felt uneasy for not knowing anyone but May and Drew, and the discomfort didn't leave him for the duration of the gathering. He often found himself not knowing what to say, he was always out of the loop regarding whatever they talked about. Frankly he couldn't bring himself to care much about it, but it was obvious that May cared a lot about her friends, and Drew likewise was able to connect with them in a way Ash knew he'd never be able to, not in a million years. In that moment Ash felt shame like never before, especially because he ordered pancakes and everyone else got adult meals—although he still enjoyed them quite a bit. But, after he was finished, he became fully aware of how out of place he seemed, and so he didn't have a good time.

Afterwards he tried to be alone with May, but the group decided to continue hanging out for the rest of the afternoon. It was too much for him. Ash saw no other choice but to excuse himself from the proceedings, arguing that the earlier training with Norman had made him as well as Pikachu tired. With this excuse, he sorrily went back to May's house alone, with his shoes still untied.

Once he was there, Ash realized that he was actually very tired, although he knew he only had noticed it because of how disappointed he felt. The day had started off so well, but somewhere along the way everything had gone completely wrong, and it seemed like Drew was there whenever things took a turn for the worse. At the very least Ash remembered May's kisses very well.

It was very easy for Pikachu and him to fall asleep that day, on his bed in the guest bedroom of May's house.

Next morning. After waking up Ash groomed himself and brushed his teeth with diligence, so much so that the smile which he directed at himself on the bathroom mirror afterwards made his mouth glisten brightly. Then he went into May's beautiful backyard hoping to find her there. As soon as he came out a sweet breeze caressed his face, and tickled his ears gently like a loving whisper. He quickly took his shoes off and felt the abundant grass beneath him. It wasn't as comfortable as it was in the valley, but it was still remarkably soft, and the backyard was littered with so many big trees that the sky was barely visible over all the dense leaves on their tops, creating a very intimate atmosphere.

Ash found May pleasantly laying down on the grass once more, this time with a bunch of loose berries next to her on the ground. He went and laid down by her side, and felt the warm soil on the back of his head. He couldn't help but close his eyes, that quiet moment next to her was perfect for it.

Ash kept his eyes closed until May poked him on the cheek with her finger. She was offering the half of a ripe pecha berry, which Ash gladly took once he noticed her. He saw that the berry had been cut in a rather uneven manner, like she had forcibly dug her finger into it and had carved through the middle until she'd cut it in half, which is exactly what had happened. Ash was a little too pleased thinking this, and so he enjoyed eating that berry much more. As he ate, he could hear the happy birds singing, the sweet breeze blowing, as well as the sounds of his and May's spirited chewing and slurping.

"I think I'm going to enter the tournament too," May said between bites.

"You mean you weren't going to?" Ash replied.

"I definitely wasn't going to, and I've never participated before. My dad gets way too into it and that turns me off every year. And, though I don't really want to, I think I should start training with him along with you and Drew. Because I want to win."

Ash was enjoying the moment immensely. He lamented finishing the pecha berry, but savored the very last bite for as long as he could before he swallowed it. "I really want to win too. Do you think I have a shot?"

"Well, I guess you had a chance, but not anymore since I'm participating," May said.

"Yeah right. I think I could win."

May stood up. She wiped her wet hands on her short shorts. "Well, we'll see."

"Where are you going?" he asked.

May looked down at Ash with a stern look in her eyes. Then she left in silence, and Ash felt a grim aura coming off of her as she walked away.

He didn't dare to follow after her.

A few minutes later Norman went into the garden, and started tending to the flowers and the bushes. Ash picked up all the berries that May had left lying around and went to talk to him.

"Hey Norman, so, May has decided to enter the tournament."

"Really?" Norman replied, suddenly with bright eyes and a big smile on his face. "No way! She has never participated before. Honestly Ash, I think it is because you're going to be part of it this year. Thanks man."

"You think so? I don't think I had much to do with it, though I am very glad she's participating too. Anyway, thanks for taking me in as your apprentice. I'm sure I will learn a lot from you."

"You may learn a lot Ash. You should. But I don't have much to teach. Whether you succeed in your endeavors or not depends solely on your commitment to the decision you make, to be as strong as you want to be. Your whole life is needed to make that happen."

"Oh jeez, in that case I should just give up now, seeing as I may not get a life to spend doing that."

"Nobody has the amount of time they would want Ash. You think you only have a few weeks? Would you prefer a few months? A few years? Regardless of how much time a person gets, it will never be enough."

"Okay then, how do I start?"

"You start by looking at yourself in an honest way, without lying to yourself about who you are."

"What!"

"That's right, a difficult task indeed. The truth is, you already know what's best for you. Humans are smart. It's easy for us to think, to search and find out what is best for us. But thoughts alone aren't going to take you anywhere. What moves you, is the decision that you make. The decision to try and reach your very best. The decision to focus on that which will help you be who you truly want to be. What is hard about being a human being, is to do what we know we should instead of what we want, because what we want is easier, less scary and more pleasurable. It's very hard for a person to make a decision like that. But this is about you. Are you willing to make the choice for yourself?"

"Well, I don't know."

"Well, you better find out Ash."

"I don't think I even know what's best for me anyway."

"That has to be up to you. Only you can know what's best for you. But obviously I'll help you find your answer Ash. As far as I know, you want to be a Pokemon Master, right?"

"That's exactly right," Ash said. "I, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, want to become a Pokemon Master."

"Yes, and that's a goal that many people share with you. But tell me, and think about this carefully, what would a person have to do, that would flawlessly guarantee that they'd become a Pokemon Master?"

"Hmm, let's see." Ash began rubbing his chin, as he entered a state of deep thought.

"Think, how would this future Pokemon Master have to start a regular day in their life? Perhaps they'd wake up at the break of dawn, exactly when they mean to, after a full night of sleep. Maybe they'd start their day by doing some light exercise with their pokemon companions, then they'd meditate together and do breathing exercises for thirty minutes. Maybe they'd read a little bit, or they'd take a long walk, or go for a swim, and then they'd eat a balanced breakfast with only the healthiest kind of food. Then, just then, they'd start their daily work. And then of course you'd continue from that. But just know that you can decide what a Pokemon Master's day would be. Of course, you can be wrong, but you will read, and you will learn more things, because you'll never stop looking, and so you'll find better ways to live a Pokemon Master's life, so that you can revise the routine that you will develop. You can devise a life that a Pokemon Master would live, that's easy for anyone to do, just by sitting down for fifteen minutes. What's hard, is to follow your own advice. The real test is choosing to make this life happen for you."

Norman got very serious, he pointed at Ash in a rather accusatory manner.

"That's how you do it! By making a choice and sticking with it! You throw yourself at the life you choose, and don't lie to yourself afterwards! So, tell me Ash, are you willing to commit to a Pokemon Master's life?"

Ash was suddenly sweating, his mouth was open and he looked terrified as he held the pecha berries on his arms. But then his face changed, he closed his mouth and his lips became a serious straight line. The resolution was clear in his eyes.

"I hope so!" he said.

"The decision is all yours," Norman replied much more calmly. "Okay then, I'll go see if Caroline made breakfast today. Afterwards we'll begin training."

"Sure, thanks," Ash replied. Then he wiped the sweat off of his forehead, dropping some of the berries in the process.

He took a few seconds to calm down and then went into the house. He stumbled into May on his way in, luckily for him she didn't seem to be angry anymore.

"Hey," Ash said, "I think your dad just scolded me."

"Meh, don't pay attention to him," May replied, as she waved her hand with sass.

"By the way, I'm sorry if I made you upset earlier."

"It's okay, and I'm sorry too, I guess," she said. "It was sort of a reflex. I might as well get used to it."

"What do you mean?"

"Believe it or not I have tried to train with my dad before," May said, as she grabbed some of the berries that Ash was still carrying. "As you know he's always pretty intense, and I feel like he's worse with me since I'm his daughter. I'm pretty sure that's the case. He means well, but he can be pretty controlling, and he knows it too. He's gotten a lot better about it actually. At least now he knows better than to ask me where I'm going whenever I leave his sight. I need to have my own space and make my own decisions. But I'm afraid I'll to have to endure him on the training ground once more. My dad is very powerful, I'm going to need his help if I want to win the tournament. It's not going to be fun, he gets way too into it. I guess my recommendation to you is, don't worry about what he says too much."

"But I want to worry about it," Ash said. "And I definitely want to pay attention to him. I need to decide what I want to do with the time I have left, and if I decide to become the very best, I need to commit to making it happen for myself, without lying to myself."

May looked at Ash with a bit of disgust in her eyes. "You sound just like my dad."

"What? So what, do you think he's wrong?"

May turned to the grass beneath her. She had a lot she wanted to say right then, but she knew it wasn't the right time to let it out. "I guess not. Anyway," she said, raising her head, "I guess I can't ignore that life is fleeting, if we're going to train we should definitely give it our very best. Are you ready to train with me Ash?"

"You bet!" Ash said, suddenly full of energy.

And so their arduous training began. A whole week passed. They headed to the valley everyday in the morning and came back exhausted right before the sun was about to set. May decided that she would enter the tournament with Blaziken as her pokemon, meanwhile Ash had no choice to make since he only had Pikachu with him; although it wouldn't have made a difference if he could've chosen, it would've been Pikachu without a doubt. He had taken to using his iron tail for all of his physical attacks, as well as to defend if he ever needed to, though his preference was to evade entirely whenever he could. Meanwhile Blaziken didn't have to worry about getting out of the way of incoming attacks, as he had very powerful arms and legs with which he could defend himself. To make himself even more powerful, Blaziken would start his daily training by running around the whole valley until exhaustion. In fact he had to, as per Norman's regimen.

May, Ash and Pikachu had to run too, every single morning.

Ash arrived back at the quadrilateral arena after running all of his laps. Sweat was running down his forehead but he had a wide smile on his face. He was so pleased with himself that he continued jogging on the spot as he waited for the rest to arrive. He saw how a thoroughly exhausted May fell on her back right on the grass once she arrived. Still jogging, Ash approached and found her on the ground with her eyes closed, struggling to breathe. Her chest raised and fell in tune with her heavy breathing. Then she opened her blue eyes which seemed sort of desperate, probably because her heartbeat was still going fast, she put the back of her hand over her forehead, and looked straight at Ash. She kept breathing loud and Ash couldn't help but focus on that. She seemed much more delicate all of the sudden, and when he looked at her eyes again he felt a warm tenderness inside her—the blue in them seemed like it was going to melt—that practically hypnotized him. Right then he wanted to reach down and kiss her.

"I thought you were in much better shape," he said.

"What made you think that? Clearly you've been looking at me too much recently, I do wonder what you think about when you're staring!" she replied angrily.

"I'm just saying. You seem like someone who would be in shape."

"Well I'm not. I don't have stamina, I'm sorry I don't match the standards you want from me."

"What? That's not what I meant at all, I was just saying that-"

"I know, I'm just messing with you." May raised her hands. "Come, help me up."

Ash grabbed May's hands and tried to pull her up, but she made herself heavy. He tried harder but she resisted even more, and then she pulled him down so quickly that Ash lost balance and fell on top of her. He was barely able to put his hands on the grass to avoid crushing her with his body. May didn't give Ash a moment to react, she grabbed him by the collar and tried to pull him towards her. This time it was Ash who resisted, and then he tried to get up. May didn't let him.

"Kiss me," she said.

"Your dad is close by, he'll definitely see us."

"Who cares, he won't say anything either way."

"How do you know?"

"I don't."

Ash didn't give in, so May tried reaching him with her own lips instead. As his last resource, Ash put his hand on her forehead and pushed her down.

"Not now."

"Yes now."

"What's gotten into you?"

"Who cares, I just want a kiss."

"Well you can't have it now."

"But I want it now."

"Just wait until later."

May grew tired of trying to force her way into Ash's lips, he was too strong and she couldn't surpass him. So she gave up and laid her head on the grass, admitting defeat.

She opened her eyes and gave him an intense look.

"Just hope that I still fancy you when you're willing," she said.

"I definitely hope so. That said, we haven't even started today's training. And we chose to do this, don't you want to win the tournament?"

"Oh, so you think a little kiss is too much of a distraction?"

"Maybe, but that's not really what I mean," Ash said. "I'm focused. If the tournament took place today, at this point I'm pretty sure I would beat you."

May frowned. "You sound a little too sure of that."

"I wasn't the one who fell on the ground gasping for air before we even started."

May stared at Ash in silence for a few seconds, still with a frown on her face. She looked very pretty with her lips pouting, but then the side of her mouth curved upwards, showcasing a mischievous streak.

"As I said, we will see," she said. Then she pushed Ash off of her.


	11. Some Weeks In Hoenn (Part 2)

Another week went by, Ash and May kept going to the valley every morning, and she soon was able to complete all of her laps around it without losing her breath. May felt so much healthier and lighter as she ran. She could sense herself becoming stronger with every passing day, and Ash could sense her eagerness to improve. It inspired him to train even harder.

Drew, for his part, did become Norman's apprentice, however, he couldn't find it in himself to focus as much as the other two did. It was sad position for Drew to be in, because he knew he wasn't a trainer. All the arduous training, all the time and effort, would be just for the tournament. Afterwards he probably wouldn't have a pokemon battle ever again. Aggravating his situation was that Norman didn't really force him to do anything, he wasn't as strict as he was made out to be. Instead, he said it was all up to Drew, but that if he was going to go through with it, he'd have to give it his all or he shouldn't do it at all. Drew knew he couldn't give it his all; he was only there—on the days he bothered to show up—so he could be with May, or at the very least, so he could sabotage Ash's chances to take her away. Still, that wasn't enough of a motivator for him to train like a Pokemon Master.

Nevertheless Drew still tried to sabotage Ash. He'd sabotage his as well as May's chances to win the tournament if it meant he couldn't take her for himself.

He arrived at the valley one morning holding a giant straw basket, from which a delicious, thoroughly irresistible scent emanated. It quickly reached the sweaty pair of Ash and May, who were already training along with their pokemon. Drew set up a pristine red blanket on the ground, then he sat most pleasantly upon it, and laid the basket next to him. He looked at the trainers with a delighted smile on his face, though the mischievous intention poured shamelessly from his eyes. Ash paid no attention to him, it was clear that he saw Drew as a distraction, but May was a different story. Drew knew her well. Her yearning eyes were glued to the basket as soon as she saw it. She suddenly looked like a hungry puppy, and then, once Drew opened the basket without losing his smile, May's eyes glistened from a very childish curiosity suddenly taking a hold of her, and that's when Drew knew he had her.

First, he pulled out two tall glasses, and with a pair of tongs he started pouring ice—which he somehow took out of the basket—on them. He proceeded to fill the glasses with fresh juice that he took out of the basket, and once he had filled both of them he finished by adorning each glass with a cocktail umbrella. Then Drew took out a large plate, and began filling it with triangular sandwiches, taking care to place them as uniformly as possible so as to increase their tantalizing factor. Finally, he revealed the _c__oup de grâce,_ which consisted of many single plates that held a wide array of expensive-looking desserts in a most aesthetically pleasing way. There was a giant cupcake with rainbow-colored frosting, there was a tall flan that waved seductively on its way to the ground. There was a thick chocolate chip cookie that encompassed the entirety of the plate. There was a perfectly cut piece of pie that simply begged to be bitten, as well as a piece of cake with white frosting that always looked like it would melt a few seconds later. After putting it down, Drew noticed that he had some frosting on the back of his fingers. He looked at May, who was already looking back at him with her mouth wide open, without blinking, the same way a poor kid would look at a rich kid who had just gotten a new toy. Right then Drew licked the back of his fingers as he made a seductive look, then he smiled.

"Hey guys," he said cheekily, "I thought you could use a respite. Of course you don't have to partake if you don't want to, though I do wish you would. The truth is, I simply didn't want to waste a day like this without a lovely breakfast."

"Nice try Drew," Ash said. "But it is clear that you want to distract us, and while the food you've prepared may look really great, pretty much unlike anything I've had in a while, it won't work. You won't be able to seduce us that easily, May and I are focused in our training. Right May?"

May walked in silence and with her mouth still open. She was attracted to the red cloth full of sweets like a magnet was to metal. Ash could only see her move towards her defeat.

"May, stop!" he exclaimed. "Don't let him trick you like this. You have to be strong!"

"I can't do it Ash, I'm sorry," May said devoid of enthusiasm, like she had already been completely defeated. She took her shoes off before stepping on the red cloth, knelt down and grabbed the piece of cake on instinct. Drew attentively handed her a fork and May immediately started eating.

"Please, help yourself to whatever you prefer," Drew said. "That goes for you too Ash."

"Thanks for the offer," Ash said, showing his teeth. "But I can see what you're doing, and there's no way it's going to work on me."

"You don't have to force yourself to be strong," Drew said. "Everyone needs a moment or two to be vulnerable, and to rest. You're only human after all. Look at May, she knows this well."

May promptly finished the piece of cake and moved on to the giant cookie, which she bit into as she looked away from Ash, without saying anything.

"I bet it's easy for you to say that Drew. It's clear you don't want to be a Pokemon Master, you don't even want to win the tournament."

"You know what Ash, you're right, that's not what I want to do. I do wish I had your spirit, and your enthusiasm for what you do. Sadly, I just don't have it."

"So because you don't want to train hard, you've decided to ruin May's training instead, for no other reason?"

That stung Drew. He looked at May and saw that she was too busy devouring the food to pay attention to them. Drew cleared his throat and looked straight at Ash. "You think that's all there is to it? That I resent you because I'm not a trainer and so I'd rather try and stop you than do something about myself? Cause if that's what you think, I'll tell you the truth right now. Yes, I didn't like that May brought you here, and that it seems like she likes you. I don't want you to hoard all of her time for yourself. But guess what, I don't hate you, and I never have. Sure, I always thought you were dumb, childish and annoying, so much so that I couldn't stand you before. But then, I saw how you struggled at lunch a few weeks ago, it was like you were lost in a blizzard, nothing like the person you are during battles. It's obvious that's all you care about. You don't care about going out with friends, I thought you didn't care about anything other than you. But you cared enough about May to put yourself through that." Drew stood up and looked straight at Ash, who was as surprised as he was confused after hearing Drew. "Well, I care too. I do care, is that so wrong? Am I not allowed to be here?"

Ash realized he didn't know what to say. "I guess you're not wrong," he had to admit to himself.

"Yeah, I didn't think so. I even want you to become a Pokemon Master, but I don't want you to have May all for yourself. And believe me, it doesn't matter how hard you train, you're going to have to rest every once in a while, otherwise you'll burn out. It's basic knowledge."

On instinct, Ash rolled his eyes with disdain. "Please don't say that. You're May's rival, not mine."

"I don't want to be your rival."

"Then what do you want from me?"

Drew didn't reply. He knelt in front of the basket and put his hand inside it, then revealed a third glass that he showed to Ash.

"If you set a goal for yourself that's so hard it seems completely impossible to achieve, then you're just going to give up because it's too much for you. It's all about taking gradual steps, if you rush, you'll bite more than you can chew. So don't force yourself right at the beginning. Here-"

"Aw, Drew," May said tenderly, with her mouth full, "you didn't forget about Ash."

"-Of course I didn't," Drew continued. "It's not like I wasn't going to bring a glass for him. Besides, I brought glasses for everyone else too."

Drew proceeded to prepare the third glass just like he did the other two. Then he grabbed the colorful cupcake and made a space on the blanket for Ash, who at that point couldn't resist any longer, and so he went and joined them.

After Ash had taken the cupcake and started eating, and as May continued delighting herself with the rest of the desserts, Drew smiled.

Days went by. Drew kept coming to the valley and even started training with Ash and May, and although he came to enjoy hanging out with them daily, his enthusiasm for battles couldn't rival theirs. So he settled on being the weakest link during their training rather quickly.

Having chosen Roserade as his partner for the upcoming tournament, Drew started doing laps with her one morning. Roserade was fast and limber, Drew loved the sight of her practically dancing on that unbridled piece of nature. She was most certainly made to roam on the most beautiful places full of green such as the valley. Drew got distracted by Roserade's beauty as he ran alongside her, and his right foot got caught by a protruding rock that instantly took him to the ground. The grass cushioned his body, but his pride didn't fare so well.

Ash ran to his aid as soon as he saw him. "Are you okay?" he asked as he extended his hand down at Drew.

Still on the ground, he looked at Ash's hand for a stoic moment, then took it and stood up with his help. Drew was astonished by how attentive Ash looked. There seemed to be a real concern for Drew in his eyes. He let go of Ash's hand and looked away from him.

"I'm fine," Drew said as he turned to the ground, pouting. "Actually I did that on purpose."

"Why?" Ash quickly asked.

Drew opened his eyes wide. "To… test my fortitude."

"Okay, if you say so."

May ran to them. "Are you two done playing around?" She said with a bright smile heightened by the morning sun.

Ash and Drew nodded silently at the same time.

"Good," she said, "let's keep going."

"You're right," Ash said as he raised his fist. "Let's go Drew!"

And Drew was surprised once more. First, for having found no animosity whatsoever towards Ash right then. What's more, by then he already considered him a friend. And second, because Drew discovered he was actually very excited to continue training with the two of them. So he looked at Ash and May and gave them a bright smile, then they continued training hard.

A couple of days later Ash went to talk to Norman on his backyard, right before heading out to the valley. Ash was quite confused that morning. He found the Gym Leader laying down on the grass next to his wife Caroline, exactly in the same way Ash himself laid next to May some time ago. Caroline even had some berries next to her on the ground. She was wearing a white summer dress, had her hand resting on her forehead—just like May would do when laying down—and a soft smile on her lips. Ash hesitated to approach them.

"What's wrong Ash?" Norman said. He had his eyes closed.

"It can wait."

"Very well."

"There's no reason for that," Caroline said, looking back at him. "Even I can tell that something is troubling you Ash. You don't have to keep things like that for yourself."

"I'm not sure if something is really troubling me though. Does it look like that's the case?"

"Just a tiny little bit," Caroline said. "Is it something about Drew?"

"What?"

Caroline covered her mouth as she released a few giggles. "I'm sorry. I simply have noticed that that boy seems to have stuck to the two of you recently, and probably doesn't let you and May have the kind of moments that you meant to have together. I myself have told Norman to leave the two of you alone, but he sure loves to butt in."

Norman remained silent.

"I'm not sure," Ash said. "But I think the problem is that Drew doesn't bother me like he maybe should. What's more, I think having him around has been really fun these past few days."

"Having fun is overrated," Norman said.

"Oh, don't start with that dear." Dismayed, Caroline patted Norman's chest.

"It's true," he continued, "what is fun, anyway? It's what you run towards in order to escape suffering and boredom. It's just vanity and self-indulgence. I think suffering is underrated, because it's unavoidable, so you might as well get used to it. Don't run from it, you only run from things you're afraid of."

"Pay no attention to him Ash," Caroline said. "This is nothing other than the ramblings of a middle aged man who takes himself too seriously, and who has to lose ten pounds if he wishes to consider himself healthy."

"It's not though—ten pounds, really?—Anyway, I'm not rambling. Do you know what people are afraid of Ash? People are afraid of spending all of their time and effort in something, only for it to fail in the end. When people choose an objective, more than anything, they want to know that they will succeed, they want to know that all of the blood, sweat and tears won't be for nothing. People would rather forget that they will never achieve perfection. Perfection is impossible to achieve in this world. Life isn't a road to perfection, life isn't a road to victory-"

"Then what is it?" Ash interrupted.

"-I was about to say it. Life is, a struggle."

"And?"

"Nothing more, just a struggle."

"Oh, well that sucks."

"Right?" Caroline added. "Are these the kind of thoughts with which you want to start your day?"

"Absolutely," Norman said. "Life is a continuous struggle, but your victory comes by not giving up on that struggle. Even if the question will never get a definitive answer, do not stop trying to answer it for yourself. The difference between winning and losing, depends only on whether you give up or not."

"So what does that mean for my Pokemon Master's life?"

"Obviously you'll grow up, you'll learn new things and you'll make adjustments to the Pokemon Master's life that you've devised for yourself. But by committing yourself fully to it, you will never be defeated, no matter what."

"I guess you do need a good reason not to give up," Ash said.

"Make no mistake," Norman said. "Having people like May and Drew around is a good thing. People motivate you and inspire you. For example, if I didn't have Caroline here with me I wouldn't have the motivation to simply comb my hair in the morning. It was the same when I was young, I was a mess, I had to try very hard to win her over."

"You have to be joking," Caroline said. "I was the one who was frothing at the mouth for you. Believe it or not Ash, this man next to me used to be quite popular with the ladies, whether he knew it or not. He seemed quite naive about it, but I often thought he was just feigning ignorance. I had to fend many swooning suitors off to make him mine. But I knew that I could get the life that I wanted with Norman. A life next to him. I realized that very early on. And so I knew I had to catch him as soon as I could. May, on the other hand, is quite different from me."

"What do you mean?"

"She's a nomad. She doesn't want to catch anyone and settle down like me. And she doesn't want to let herself be caught."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ash said as he looked at the ground.

After he said that, Caroline couldn't help but let out a few more giggles. "With that said, I assume you won't be giving up that easily."

"You bet I won't! I've chosen to become a Pokemon Master, and that's what I'm going to do! You're absolutely right guys, thanks for the advice, see you later." Freshly motivated, Ash started his walk to the valley.

"No, that's not what I meant," Caroline said with a disappointing tone. "Oh no. He's one of those, isn't he?"

"That's right," Norman said. "He's a winner."

"Of course you were the same. Blissfully ignorant about the matters that truly matter. If only he knew, he could make a woman really happy."

"Give him a break. He's young, and he's made a decision."

Caroline let out a deep sigh, then she picked up a berry from the ground. "Decisions, decisions, decisions," she said.

She gently dug her index finger on one side of the berry, then carved carefully through the middle, minding to do it as delicately as she could, as if the berry would crumble into pieces with one inappropriate touch, until she was able to tear it in half. She led one half to her nose and sampled its fresh scent, then handed it to her husband, who took it from her and used the opportunity to stroke her fingers softly. Finally, Caroline licked her fingers and watched lovingly as her husband ate the berry.

The day of the tournament loomed near, and Drew could sense that both Ash and May had a clear edge over him. They seemed much more motivated and had definitely trained much harder than him. He had gotten used to hanging out with them everyday, and couldn't help but feel like they were leaving him behind. It made him scared, even desperate.

So one morning he brought a giant straw basket with himself to the valley. He set up a large red cloth and filled it with with all sorts of colorful delicacies, creating a beautiful tapestry of delicious desserts worthy of a painting.

"Hey guys," he said, once he had set everything up, "You have been training so hard recently, a time out is strictly needed at this point. You definitely deserve it."

Ash hadn't run his laps that morning, and was still warming up when the deliciously nuanced scent reached his nose.

"Come on Ash," Drew said with seductive eyes, "I brought a cupcake of the kind you love so much."

Some drool dropped from Ash's lip. However, he tried to keep his feet still on the grass, to avoid succumbing to Drew's temptation.

"Just take a break, you can always continue later. Human spirits can only take so much."

Next Drew prepared a glass of juice for Ash and poured some ice on it, instantly making the drink sweat. It was too much for him, Ash started walking towards the red cloth.

"That's right, the valley will be waiting for you once you're done. But first let's have a nice breakfast together. You should come and join us too May, I made sure to make your favorite."

May was also warming up in that moment. She hadn't looked at the blanket full of sweets once since Drew had set it up.

"No thanks," she said with a serious expression on her face.

Ash and Drew both directed well-earned incredulous stares at her.

"Okay, that's enough joking around, come have your cake," Drew said with a smile.

"I'm not joking, my days of being driven by my stomach are over."

Drew stood up and made his hands into fists. "That can't be true. I simply can't believe you out of all people would refuse a table full of desserts, your sense of taste is what matters the most to you, it's basically who you are."

"Perhaps," May said, "but if that's the case, then I'm going to be someone else until I've won the tournament. When that happens I will celebrate by eating a mountain made out of cake. But only after it's done."

"Come on, surely you can make a little time to rest."

"I'll have plenty of time to rest once I'm dead—or at least when the tournament's over. I want to win, so I'm going to train like a tournament winner. That goes for you too Ash. I thought you were serious about this, but I guess you think it's okay to start your day with a distraction after all."

Dumbfounded, Ash listened to May. After she was done talking she bolted off to run her laps, and he stared at her back as she left him and Drew behind. Ash turned to Drew, and took the time to wipe the drool off of his face. In that moment, when Drew saw his eyes, he knew this time it was he who had been defeated.

"May's right. I can't believe I forgot about my Pokemon Master's life so quickly."

"It's my fault," Drew said. "I was ready to do anything, and I mean anything just so the three of us could have breakfast together. It's obvious that you guys are miles ahead of me, and all I'm doing is hindering your chances of winning the tournament."

As Drew continued talking, Ash walked up to him and took his hand, instantly shutting him up.

"This isn't the time to think about this," Ash said. "You came here to train with us, and that's exactly what we're going to do."

"But-"

"You want to hang out with us, and it was you who decided to come here. You said you weren't afraid of whatever Norman could throw at you, didn't you say that?"

"I did," Drew said, averting his eyes. "But wait, who's going to eat all this food?"

"I can help you with that," Norman suddenly appeared, with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face.

"Norman! Please help yourself to anything you want."

"Thanks Drew, I'll take you up on that."

"Great, so that's settled," Ash said. "Are you ready Drew?"

Drew gulped, then nodded with nervous eyes.

"Then let's do this," Ash said.

"Okay. Let's do this."

They ran to catch up to May.

* * *

The day of the tournament arrived. May, Ash and Drew walked into the valley that morning with a single objective on their minds, and with their blood pumping at full throttle. The valley, the peaceful place filled only with the most beautiful side of nature that they knew so well, had become something else entirely. Myriads of happy people in shorts and open shirts walking and talking, many food stands that filled the air with conflicting scents. Loud conversations and rousing shouts. And at the center of it all, a sea of human heads gathered around the quadrilateral arena, all of them ready and expectant for all the battles that were about to take place. The battles were to be one against one until the very end, when a trainer and their pokemon out of sixteen possible pairs would be crowned the victor of the day. Norman himself would both officiate the event and participate as well.

It happened to be Saturday, and this Ash had survived for four weeks without exploding, but in that moment his head didn't have any space left for him to worry about that.

Once the sun illuminated every single corner of the place completely, Norman appeared on the grass, and the people got out of his way as he walked toward the arena with a microphone on his hand. The crowd was silenced as soon as everyone saw him. He positioned himself right at the center of the arena and took a deep breath, then raised his free hand and led the microphone to his mouth.

"Let the tournament begin!" he shouted. The crowd went wild, they all raised their fists and opened their mouths wide. All of their energy was concentrated right where Norman was. He smiled as he felt its power clashing on the spot, then signaled the first two combatants into the arena. On one side were Ash and Pikachu. On the other was an old opponent of his, Dewford City's Gym Leader Brawly, who along with his big Hariyama took his positions and faced Ash and Pikachu.

"Long time no see Ash," Brawly said with a cocky grin on his face.

"Hey Brawly, I can't believe you remember me," Ash said.

"That's right, I don't know exactly why, but I remember you very well. You got a spirit like no other I've ever met, but it won't help you today. You may not know this, but I was actually the runner up last year. I lost against Norman in the final. I'm aching to get my revenge this time around, and I won't let anyone get in my way."

"Well, right now that's Pikachu and I, and we won't stand aside without a fight."

Norman closed his eyes and smiled with a serene, genuine kind of joy. He settled himself at the edge of the arena and raised his hand.

"All the battles are one against one. Each combatant will give it their all until they can't continue, at which point the one still standing will be declared the winner! Brawly and Hariyama, are you ready?"

"You bet I am," Brawly said confidently.

"Very well. Ash and Pikachu, are you ready?"

Both trainer and pokemon turned to Norman and nodded seriously.

"Very well. Begin!"

"Okay Brawly," Ash said, "let me see what you've got."

"You're giving me the first move huh, let's find out how that works out for you. Hariyama, use close combat!"

Hariyama let out a boisterous shout, making the whole valley shake with his voice. He raised his arms and flexed his biceps, clearly wanting to show off his might, then he bolted off at Pikachu much faster than it seemed possible for a large pokemon such as him to do. The fury in his eyes seemed to make him go even faster and he prepared his arms for the imminent barrage of fists that he meant to throw at Pikachu. But as he started releasing hit after hit, each just as lethal as the rest, Pikachu silently avoided any contact by simply moving to the right after every single hit, making Hariyama miss every time while moving in circles, all without having his trainer utter an order. Both Ash and Pikachu were deeply focused, and because of that they knew there was no reason to speak at all.

"Keep going Hariyama, you only need to hit it once!" Brawly cried, "We can't give them any room to strike back."

The arena was suddenly very slippery for Hariyama, who struggled to brake his rotating motion. His target was right there in front of him and somehow he kept missing. Right then it was entirely reasonable for him to be discouraged, nevertheless he growled and shouted and psyched himself up and went for Pikachu once more. However Pikachu easily continued evading hit after hit. Both Brawly and Hariyama growled with anger. Hariyama channeled his rage and forced himself to charge through the arena once more directly at Pikachu, who evaded him once again.

"Forget that then, use force palm!"

After stopping his shower of attacks with difficulty, still furious, Hariyama sprinted on all fours towards its target while Pikachu went to meet him on two. The first force palm was easily neutralized with a simple tilt of the head from Pikachu, so Hariyama kept throwing hands, hitting nothing until, in his rage, he slipped, fell on his back and hit his head on the ground.

"Hariyama!" Brawly cried.

Suddenly Pikachu was standing next to his opponent as he laid on the ground. While Ash remained silent, Pikachu helped Hariyama up and, in his own way, asked him if he was okay. Hariyama was taken aback by Pikachu's treatment, and he wasn't angry anymore, he couldn't be. Hariyama even allowed the much smaller pokemon to help him up, then reassured Pikachu that he was fine. However, he still wanted to prove his strength, just like his trainer. So after making some distance between the two the battle continued. Hariyama continued throwing punches as fast and as hard as he could, and Pikachu continued evading with masterful ability all the way until he found the perfect window to counter. He jumped, rolled forward in the air and hit Hariyama's forehead with a perfectly placed iron tail. Hariyama went to the ground once more, but this time Pikachu didn't help him. Instead he simply stood there calmly with the same serious expression as his silent trainer.

"We're not ready to give up yet! Are we Hariyama?" Brawly shouted. And Hariyama responded with a decisive shout.

He went for Pikachu once more, but this time he got on the offensive and met Hariyama with an iron tail to his right cheek, then followed that with another iron tail to his left one, and then yet another one to his forehead again. And then Hariyama's head kept turning from side to side as Pikachu kept hitting him, and the crowd started feeling the momentum of his relentless strikes. At first they had been taken aback by Ash and Pikachu's approach, but then, once they took notice of their power they started cheering for them and followed the motion of his attacks, turning their heads the same way Hariyama's did with Pikachu's relentless iron tails. Then Pikachu moved back and got on all fours when he sensed that Hariyama was stunned. Ash knew it was the perfect time to seal their victory. He prepared another iron tail, jumped forward once more and took Hariyama all the way to the ground with yet another precise strike to the head. Hariyama was still conscious, so Pikachu prepared the finishing blow and moved to strike. However, the edge of his sharp tail stopped right before making contact with Hariyama's desperate face, at which point the battle was over.

Norman silently turned to Brawly.

"We concede," despondent, Brawly said.

"Hariyama can't continue, Ash and Pikachu win!" Norman shouted.

"Man, we didn't have a chance," Brawly said as he walked up to the center of the arena. He helped Hariyama up, and then Ash went to meet him and shake his hand. "How did you do that Ash?"

"With training," Ash said.

"Yeah, but how exactly-"

"It was a lot of training," Ash replied. Pikachu jumped on his shoulder, then both of them turned to Norman, who gave them an approving nod, which they took in with pride.

"Well, it paid off." Brawly bowed before Ash, then turned around and left the valley as soon as he could, because he knew he had been thoroughly humiliated.

Then the tournament continued. Both May and Drew won their respective matches on the first round, May against Rustboro City Gym Leader Roxanne, and Drew against a youngster named Gordy.

On the second round Ash faced a fisherman named Larry, whose goldeen was easily defeated by Pikachu. Afterwards it was Drew's turn on the second round. He stepped into the arena, and then felt a shiver travel down all through his back once he saw who his opponent was. Lavaridge Town's own Gym Leader, Flannery.

"Flannery and Torkoal, are you ready?" Norman said.

"Yes!" Flannery shouted with her lively voice.

"Very well. Drew and Roserade, are you ready?"

"Uh," Drew uttered. A drop of sweat was running down his right temple. "N… yes."

"Very well. Begin!"

Drew hesitated.

Knowing the opponent was faster, Flannery awaited for Drew's move.

"You can do it Drew!" May shouted from the sidelines using her hands to resonate.

Drew turned to her and gulped, then nodded with as much confidence as he could muster right then. He had to at least try, so as not to make an ass of himself.

"Roserade! Use energy ball," he shouted mechanically. Then Roserade did as he said, and called upon a ball of green light in front of her with a beautiful chant. She released the energy ball with a violent flail of her flowery limbs, it reached Torkoal's hard, darkened carapace but the fire type remained like a statue, to which Flannery smiled.

"Torkoal, use overheat!" she cried. Presently her pokemon filled the whole arena with flames which traveled aggressively fast towards their prey. Roserade had to jump out of the way of the wave of fire and move to the very edge of the arena just to avoid being consumed by the flames.

Before stepping into the arena Drew didn't know who his opponent was going to be. If he had known, he would've been able to make some adjustments to his strategy. But, ultimately, he had to admit to himself that Roserade was simply not fit for pokemon battles. None of her attacks could damage Flannery's fire type directly. Drew himself was completely out of his element.

Torkoal kept expelling fire out of his mouth and Roserade kept avoiding it as fast as she could. She was agile and very light, the flair from her performances was on display with every one of her delicate movements on the battlefield; she was basically dancing as she continued evading the flames. Suddenly Drew got an idea which seemed audacious enough to work.

"Roserade, use toxic!"

For a moment Roserade stood still as flames kept raging at both sides of her. She directed her right arm at Torkoal, whose semblance suddenly changed and he became more dour. His eyes suddenly seemed sadder, and from the borders of his lips purple liquid started to come out.

"We won't give up!" Flannery said, raising her fist. "Keep going Torkoal, let's end this quickly!"

The waves of fire kept aggressively flowing, Roserade continued evading, and Drew realized that he was able to sense the pace of the fight, and notice the movements of both contenders in a much more fluid and clearer way, so much so that he felt he could predict their next movements, both from himself and his opponent. He had watched Ash and May train a lot, right on the very place he was standing in that moment. At the very least his observational skills had improved quite a bit. He knew that if he could prolong the battle with Roserade's agility, Torkoal would succumb to her poison soon enough.

"This is going nowhere," Flannery said. "Torkoal, use eruption!"

The flames went out, giving Roserade some time to catch her breath. Then, a corner on the white marble arena turned red, and from it arose a red explosion. Torkoal resumed releasing waves of fire in such a way that unavoidably led Roserade to the red zone; the explosion was gone, but the ground was red instead of white. Roserade's feet burned. From the pain, she fell on the ground and then her knees burned. She tried to escape but Torkoal's flames finally reached her and drained most of her health.

Drew caught the pattern of Torkoal's waves of fire and made Roserade move out of the way, so she continued evading. Flannery promptly ordered Torkoal to use eruption again, and then half of the arena became red and, at least for Roserade, unbearable to the touch. Drew was already drenched in sweat, the heat felt like daggers piercing his skin. It paralyzed him.

"You haven't lost yet Drew!" someone from the crowd said. Drew turned towards the voice on the sidelines and noticed Ash looking straight at him with a very confident pair of eyes. "Don't give up until it's over."

Drew suddenly felt like he had woken up. He looked back at the arena and saw Roserade right in the middle of it. From the edges a tornado of fire formed, and quickly trapping her inside. Drew could only watch as the moving fire closed in on her. Then she was out of his sight, and all he could see was fire moving fast.

"Hold on Roserade!" he cried. "Torkoal is in front of you and he's been getting weaker and weaker from your poison. Use energy ball again and end this."

"Don't bother Drew. You tried your best all the way to the end, I can see that, but the battle is over," Flannery said.

"We'll see about that."

From the fire tornado, the energy ball came out and the weary Torkoal was hit, and this time he felt its force. However it wasn't enough to take him down, and the fire tornado kept going, and started consuming Roserade in full. At least for a few seconds. Roserade's poison finally took its toll on Torkoal, and he went to the ground unconscious before Roserade could succumb to his fire.

"What?" Flannery said, after looking at her pokemon down on the ground, and their opponent, Roserade, breathing heavily, half-scorched by their fire, but still standing.

"Torkoal can't continue," Norman said, "Drew and Roserade win."

Drew ran to his pokemon and stopped himself before touching her, seeing that she was considerably hurt.

"We did it Roserade! I really can't believe it, but we won!" he said. Then both he and Roserade shared a passionate look, both with a tender, naked happiness visible on their eyes.

"Congratulations Drew," Flannery said as she went to meet them. "It pains me to say it, but you endured me as well as Torkoal and survived. There aren't many guys who can say that, you deserve to go through to the semifinals."

"Thanks, although I think a single second made a world of difference."

Then they shook hands.

Afterwards May had her second-round match against a spoiled brat named Matt, whom she soundly defeated after just a few seconds.

There was a small pause so that all competitors could recover their energies. Then the tournament continued with the first leg of the semifinals, which had Drew and May facing each other on the arena.

Blaziken and Roserade were called in front of their trainers. The crowd had been roused and the anticipation could be felt in the air.

Norman walked to the edge of the arena. "Drew and Roserade, are you ready?"

"Yes," Drew said.

"May and Blaziken, are you ready?"

"Yes!" May shouted with confidence.

"Very well. Begin!"

"Alright!" May shouted eagerly. She quickly took the initiative, a little bit of fire came out of Blaziken's mouth. "Blaziken, get her!"

"Roserade, make sure he doesn't touch you!" Drew said. Then the pokemon ran towards each other. He threw a flaming punch at her and she evaded. Roserade saw the fist up close and she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it. At the same time Drew realized that defeating them would be almost impossible. Afterwards Blaziken chased Roserade all over the arena with his limbs covered in fire, up until he grabbed her arm and prepared his fist.

"Wait!" Drew cried out. "May, I know you can beat me, I know we don't stand a chance against Blaziken and you."

"Hey Drew," Norman interrupted. "In this tournament, type advantages aren't taken into account. This is about you and your partner proving themselves and overcoming all odds, no matter what the opponent throws at you."

"I know," Drew replied, "but either way May is way ahead of me. Still, I want to prove myself against Ash and you. So how about you let me win? I know Ash hasn't passed through the final, but if he does, and you let me win, it will be me against him, and as I said I really want to show him what I'm made of."

"What? No way!" May said, indignant. "Sorry Drew, I have something that I need to do too. I have my own objective, and I can't give it up now. And this isn't about you."

Consequently, May and Blaziken wiped the floor with Drew and Roserade, and earned their place in the tournament final.

The second semifinal pitted Ash against Norman himself. It would be Ash's first real test of the day, and perhaps his most important one in a long while, considering he would go against his latest mentor.

Ash and Norman placed themselves on opposite sides of the arena. Max, May's little brother, would act as the referee since Norman was fighting. He called his pokemon partner, one of the vigoroth which Ash already knew quite well. Pikachu stepped in front of Ash and faced his laughing opponent.

"Are you ready for this Ash?"

"I'm ready to live a Pokemon Master's life."

"Very well, show me what you've got."

"Um, okay," Max said. "Dad, and Vigoroth, are you ready?"

"Yes!"

"Ash and Pikachu, are you ready to lose?"

"Yes, I mean no! Why would you do that now Max? Anyway, we are ready!"

"Okay then, begin!"

Max lowered his tiny arm fast, but nobody moved. The expectant crowd was fully silent, meanwhile the four combatants stood like statues.

Both Ash and Norman smiled. Everyone was confused. Everyone except for them.

Both Ash and Norman took out a piece of cloth, turned around, and blindfolded themselves. Both of them crossed their arms. Then, at the very same time, Ash and Norman shouted vigorously, and Pikachu and Vigoroth ignited and started throwing fast paced hits at each other. Their movements couldn't be telegraphed, their limbs could barely be seen, but the fists and the tails and the kicks could certainly be heard all over the place along with their battle-cries. Ash and Norman shouted louder, theirs seemed to be a battle of wills, and for all intents and purposes it was a screaming match, as the pokemon battle between them looked like a blur from which limbs and tails sometimes came out.

There seemed to be no end to the ear-piercing shouts until a bit of saliva got stuck on Norman's throat, he stopped screaming and his eyes opened wide. Then a coughing fit made him lose focus, and because of this Vigoroth stopped fighting and was fulminated by Pikachu, who focused on his laughing face until Vigoroth went to the floor.

"What? This cannot be!" Max said. "My dad wins anyway, you lose Ash."

"No Max. Ash is clearly the winner," Norman said as he wiped his mouth. "Vigoroth and I can't continue, Ash and Pikachu go through to the final."

"Aw man, this sucks," Max added.

"Yes it does son. But that's how it is, I've been knocked out in the semifinals for the first time since I started this tournament. I guess I do need to lose a few pounds, perhaps I have grown complacent and I got a ruthless reminder for it. At least it was by a formidable opponent like you Ash. Congratulations."

"Thanks Norman," Ash said. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"Well, thanks I guess. Although that doesn't sound so good since I'm the one you've just defeated. Anyway." Norman went and took the microphone from Max's hands. "Thanks Max. Okay, so we have this year's finalists! The last match of the day will be Ash versus May!"

The crowd went wild.

Afterwards Ash left the arena and went back to the resting area (beneath a leafy tree), where he found both May and Drew. She was not happy to see him at all. In fact May was very angry right then. She punched Ash on the shoulder as soon as he walked in.

"Hey! What gives?" Ash said as he rubbed his deltoid muscle.

"You just ruined my whole thing. You winning means I entered the tournament for nothing!" she said.

"What do you mean? You reached the final."

"Yes, but I was supposed to go against my dad," May said with her fist raised. "I did this whole thing just so I could beat him in the final."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes!" May said, still angry. "That's all I've been talking about for all this time! If I was going to endure training with him, if I was going to work my butt off, it's because I wanted to beat up my dad in front of you Ash. I wanted you to see me as I mopped the floor with him!"

"That sounds really weird," Drew suddenly said.

"Yeah? Well I don't care how it sounds. All I care about is that you ruined my chance to do that Ash."

"How was I supposed to know that's what you were planning to do?" Ash said slightly offended. "It doesn't matter anyway, because even if I had known, I wouldn't have lost on purpose anyway."

"I don't care what happens anymore."

"Well I do. My objective is to win. That's what a Pokemon Master would do, so that's what I'm going to do. It may very well be the last thing I do—I haven't forgotten what could happen to me at any moment—but it doesn't matter how much time I have left, I will commit myself to the life I want to live."

"You're not going to disappear," May said.

"How do you know?"

"Because I won't allow it. Nothing is going to happen to you. I'll keep you alive, and I'll fend off anyone who tries to take you away."

"How do you know if you'll be strong enough to do that?" Ash said. "It's obvious that you don't think you can beat me, that's what this is all about."

"What did you say?" May shouted. Drew could feel the tension in the air, it tightened his lips and closed his lungs.

"You heard me," Ash continued. "If you were serious about this, you wouldn't give up and start crying just because things didn't go your way."

"Don't you mess with me, I'll make you eat your words!"

"You will try. Believe me, I hope you at least try."

May was fuming, she got in front of Ash, he didn't back away. Their noses were almost touching. Their eyes showed the same rage within them. May grunted with a very passionate kind of impotence. Then she stormed out of the resting area and, still fuming, walked towards the arena.

Just a few seconds later Ash stormed off too, also furiously, with Drew behind him ineffectively trying to calm him down.

As the two finalists entered the arena the crowd was silenced. Everyone there could feel the tension emanating from the two opponents. Even Norman felt a bit uneasy.

"Ahem. We have reached the final of the ninth Tournament in the Valley! The champion will be decided between Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and my own daughter, from here on Petalburg City." A little tear flowed from Norman's right cheek. "I can't believe it. After all these years, she finally came around and saw how great this tournament was. I knew she would, I just knew it."

May frowned harder as she looked straight at Ash. He knew that May really resented him for taking away her chance to beat up her dad. Too bad, he hadn't come there to lose.

"Ash and Pikachu, are you ready?"

"Yes," Ash said softly.

"May and Blaziken." Norman wiped another tear from his eye. "Are you ready?"

"Start the match now."

"I'm so proud of you dear. Begin!"

Norman lowered his arm. Pikachu and Blaziken went for each other. Limbs started flailing, battle-cries resounded all over the valley. Blaziken blocked an iron tail from Pikachu with his elbow. Pikachu used the moment right afterwards to electrocute Blaziken with a thunderbolt. It was an effective hit. Blaziken responded with a fire punch to the face. Pikachu dexterously evaded it by jumping to his left. Immediately Blaziken threw a blazing kick at him, hit him hard on his little abdomen and sent Pikachu flying. They knew each other very well, having trained together for so long. The battle continued, and both Pikachu and Blaziken were able to parry each other's hits, and to neutralize their ability to evade incoming attacks. May was grinding her teeth, Ash couldn't stand her in that moment. Meanwhile on the sidelines Drew could only wish they'd stop being so mad at each other. But the battle continued. Blaziken's fire punch hit Pikachu hard in the face.

"Ha! Take that!" May shouted as she viciously pointed at him.

"You think that's funny?" Ash replied.

"Yes!"

"You'll pay for that."

"When?"

"Right now!" Ash growled.

"Oh yeah? Well I don't see anything happening. Are you going to come over and do something or what?"

Ash growled loudly, all of his muscles contracted at the same time. "Pikachu! Destroy Blaziken with an iron tail!"

Pikachu shook his head to regain focus, he too wanted to teach his opponent a righteous lesson. He prepared to jump and roll forward but Blaziken stopped him before he could even begin with another blazing kick to the face.

"Wait!" Ash shouted, "step back and use thunderbolt instead."

Pikachu prepared to move back, but Blaziken punished his hesitation with another blazing kick that sent him flying backwards.

"Are you finally getting scared?" May said. "It's too bad for you, you can't get away."

"I'm not trying to! Pikachu, now's your chance, use thunderbolt!"

Pikachu shook his whole body, then got in four legs and prepared a thunderbolt as powerful as he could make it. His attack blinded everyone in the valley for a few seconds and when they were able to see again Blaziken was still being electrocuted. But he was still standing, taking Pikachu's thunderbolt with his fists clenched and his eyes closed.

"You think you can take it huh, well here's another one! Pikachu use thunderbolt again!"

Pikachu continued electrocuting Blaziken, who stood standing, taking all the painful electricity in. What's more, while he was still being electrocuted, he started walking towards Pikachu, hoping to get close enough for a fulminating attack.

"You can't hold on for long!" Ash shouted.

"That's what you think!" May shouted back. Then she started walking towards the arena, towards Blaziken, herself.

"May, you can't get too close to the pokemon, it's dangerous," Norman interrupted, raising an arm.

"Shut up dad! This is between Ash and I, between Pikachu and Blaziken, and I'm not scared of them. They can't hurt us, and there's no way they're going to beat us!" she said as she continued walking towards Blaziken.

At seeing her insolence, Ash started walking towards her, towards the middle of the arena too. By that point everyone else was quietly scared.

"What are you doing? It's very dangerous to walk into the middle of a fight," Ash said angrily.

"I'm showing you that I'm not afraid, that I can be as strong as I want to be on my own, and that neither you nor my dad can do anything about it!"

"Take this seriously May, this is the tournament final! You don't care about any of this, you never did."

May reached Ash, she violently grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close.

"You think I don't care? You think I don't care about you? Do you seriously think I'm not worried about what can happen to you at any moment?" She shouted right at his face. Then May pulled Ash even closer and kissed him hard on the lips. Everyone gasped. Ash opened his eyes wide and then saw her pull away for a bit. "If so, you're an idiot." She then kissed him again even harder.

Ash pulled back. "You're an idiot too," he said.

May let go of him for just a second and then put her arm around his neck, restraining him. "Shut up and kiss me!" Ash surrendered himself to her and they started making out hard. Everyone was bewildered, except for Drew, who seemed disappointed instead, not sad, but definitely angry in a rather disinterested way. Meanwhile Caroline was the only one who was smiling, with an expression on her face that showcased mischievous surprise.

Ash then tried to release himself from May's arm-lock, but she didn't let him. She was holding him tight with both of her arms around him. So he resorted to putting his arms around her waist; he lifted her and took her feet off the ground to try and push her away, just so he could break free from her arm-lock. But then he fell backwards, taking her down with him. Then she was on top of him on the arena, and they continued making out, visibly with tongue, and continuously gasping loudly for air, completely unburdened by the many prying eyes.

"You have no idea of how much I've been waiting to do this to you, for so long you haven't let me… You could explode at any moment, don't you want to live? …I've wanted you for so long but all you've ever wanted to do is train, even though you say you like me… Ahh, you still haven't changed… You frustrate me so much, I freaking love you," she said.

"I still… I still… Hey, let me just say something really quickly-"

"Hurry."

"I still want to be a Pokemon Master… But I think this time I'm okay letting you win," he said.

Everyone watched with their mouths open. Norman was utterly flabbergasted. Even Max was astonished. Caroline covered his eyes with her hand but she continued watching. Drew was quite done by then. He walked towards the edge of the arena and put his elbows over it.

"Hey, can I join in?" Drew said. "He he, just kidding. Take it easy there. Man, you guys are crazy. Even crazier than me, for suggesting that I join in. Of course I was kidding, I was definitely kidding."

This year's Tournament in the Valley didn't have a declared champion. Ash and May continued making out on the arena until people started to disperse. Afterwards they caught the perfect moment to escape from the valley.

A few hours later, May was resting in her backyard by herself, laying down with a wide smile on her face. Nobody but Ash knew she was there, she was technically hiding, after what happened in the valley.

Suddenly she heard a loud thunder that made her shriek. She sat up and looked at the purple sky above her, and saw a very bright light becoming bigger and bigger. Then there was another thunder, but this time it sounded like the sound was somehow getting away from her. Immediately afterwards the light above her ripped into two halves, and from it came Dialga's face, much, much bigger than May knew it was. It encompassed pretty much her whole field of vision.

She put her hands in front of her face and closed her eyes.

"Don't be afraid," Dialga said. "I only want to help."

May dared to look at it once more. Its giant face was too extraordinary a sight to keep a reasonable mind when speaking to it. May closed her eyes and covered her face again.

"What do you want?" she basically pleaded.

"I've made a mistake," Dialga said, "I cannot fix it, and it's only getting worse. But, I have decided, that I can't allow the Ash in your possession to be killed."

May opened her eyes, but she kept covering her face with her hands.

"Others like me have begun doing the same. If the situation continues it will soon become unsustainable. Still, something must be done with yours too. I will tell you where you can hide him, and you must take him there right away. Will you do it?"

May dared to look at the giant face once more, and this time she kept looking.

"Yes," she said decisively.

* * *

**So it happened again. This one got even longer than the last one. But anyway, the next one probably will be much shorter than this. Anyway, what I actually wanted to say is that, the only reason I added the number of weeks, as well as the number of remaining Ashs, at the beginning of the chapters, is that I always meant to write some chapters out of chronological order, and that part at the beginning would serve to pinpoint exactly when the events of the chapter are taking place, okay, bye.**


	12. Princess Trapped In Underground Garden

Melemele Island, Alola, four weeks after the first incident. Ashs remaining: 11.

There was a rebellious flower in the otherwise uniform flower patch. Ash couldn't distinguish a single rose—there were only roses—except for the one that stood out from the rest like a sore thumb. It was a beautiful and healthy rose, with red petals so velvety they demanded to be caressed by an appreciative finger. It was just that its stem was a bit slanted, and couldn't be set straight regardless of how much Ash tried to move it.

The boy had to get rid of the rose, because in his eyes, at least with that flower there, the flower patch wasn't what it was supposed to be. Ash crouched down in front of the roses and reached for the tilted stem, cutting his finger with one of its thorns just as he touched it. He yelled and pulled his arm back instantly, some drops of blood came out of his thumb. Still, he reached for the rose and pulled, dripping some of his blood on the stem. It took him two tries, but he managed to pull the rose right out of the ground. And he took it with him, at least until he found a trash can to get rid of it.

Satisfied, Ash made his way back towards Kukui's house on the outskirts of Hau'oli city, where he was staying.

Kukui had a two-story house, which was equally close to Hau'oli city to the North, and the pokemon school where he worked as a teacher to the south. Recently the house had gone through some renovations, so Kukui could accommodate his ever-growing family without an issue. Nevertheless he always kept a room free and ready on the second floor, in case any of his dear friends, which included our hero, decided to visit.

At first it had been decided that the three Ashs currently residing in Alola should be kept enough distance away from each other, but everyone who knew about the situation had gotten rather comfortable with it, so the Ashs were allowed to meet as long as it was done discreetly. Mallow's Ash was still staying with her in Hau'oli City. Meanwhile Lana's Ash was supposed to remain in Konikoni City at Lana's house, but he was just so restless that they could only withstand his antics for so long, so he was allowed to roam freely.

Lillie's Ash was the only one who didn't stay with his champion at her house. Lillie's mother hadn't allowed it.

To access his room, Ash had to go up a set of stairs at the side of Kukui's house. He walked up to the door, but before opening it, he took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped his injured finger, until he was able to distinguish the small, deceptively deep line that the thorn had made with surgical precision on his thumb. He proceeded to open the door using his healthier hand, went inside, and found none other than Kiawe sitting on the couch, which was set next to the wall to his right, as well as Lillie, who was standing in front of him, with her back elegantly straight, and holding her hands together in front of her waist.

Both of them turned to Ash when he came in. A wide smile appeared on Lillie's face, her innocent eyes glistened emerald-green as if they had been hit by the radiant sun, and she went to greet him.

"Welcome back, how did it go?" she asked.

"Well, as it turns out, Olivia just wanted to know whether or not I had asked you out already," Ash said. "Seriously, with all of the talk that goes around in this place, you'd think everyone would already know that we've been going out for a month already. They don't seem to talk about anything else, you'd think they'd at least be efficient in transmitting the information. But obviously I don't agree with any of this nonsense. A relationship pertains only to two people, therefore it should be kept private from everyone else."

"You're absolutely right." Lillie gave Ash a light hug—but without any real contact—touching his torso only with her hands, without actually embracing him. Meanwhile he only smiled and kept his hands to his sides. She then went for a kiss, just a little peck on the side of the lips, to which Ash reacted by nearing his cheek to her and kissing the air next to her. Lillie was barely able to make contact with the corner of his mouth; no red tissue full of blood, no saliva, instead mostly tasteless, impotence-filled air.

That had been their fourth kiss since they started dating, and easily the best one out of the four.

"And Kiawe is here too, how nice."

"Yes, he was helping me with some groceries I got for you." Lillie followed Ash to the bathroom at the far back of the room. "Hey," she said. Then she tried reaching for his hand, her eyes were directed to the blood. "What happened, are you okay Ash?"

"You mean this? It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"No, let me help you with it." Once again she tried reaching for his hand, but Ash pulled it away from her.

"Seriously, don't get your precious hands dirty for something so insignificant. It isn't worth it."

Lillie tried to look at Ash in the eye but his gaze wouldn't meet her. All of the sudden she was assaulted by an uncomfortable feeling, which compelled her to open her mouth like she wanted to shout. But she kept silent, because she couldn't discern what she really wanted to say.

"Hey, Ash," she said instead, "tomorrow there will be a special showing of one of my favorite movies."

"Really? That's awesome," Ash replied.

"Yes. I thought we could go together."

"Why?"

"Because… I just thought it'd be nice, don't you think?"

"Sure. I mean, it would be nice, but as you know I need my considerable time inside."

"But we always stay in."

"Yes we do," Ash said. "Or at least I do, and there's a reason for that. You see, the process that took place four weeks ago did something to me, and I feel like both my mind and body need to regularize. I have no doubt in my mind that I am the real Ash Ketchum. And that's partly because I trust your superior judgment, with you picking me over the rest of the Ashs. Also, I simply know it, I feel it in my bones. With that said, I'm still reeling from what happened. I don't know how the rest of the Ashs are handling it, how it is affecting their behavior and how they are reacting to it. But as for me, the real one, I need my books to anchor me to my place in the world, and as you know my place in the world is next to you, on the couch, or at my desk, or at the table, in silence. Don't you agree?"

"…Yes," Lillie said cheerlessly.

"Of course, you don't have to miss that movie if you don't want to. In fact, why don't you go see it with Kiawe?"

"What's that?" Kiawe suddenly said. He was still sitting on the couch.

"Would you like to accompany my Lillie to watch her movie tomorrow?"

"Um." Kiawe rubbed the back of his head. "I just got the groceries. That reminds me." Kiawe snapped his fingers. "Professor Kukui wanted to see the two of you at the school today. He said it was really important."

"Did he say what it was about?" Lillie asked.

"He did. And I guess since Ash doesn't seem too worried about the situation, it's okay if I mention it. Apparently, last week Cynthia's Ash vanished into thin air. However, it didn't happen during the weekend, instead it did on Tuesday. Although that isn't enough to disprove Juniper's theory, I guess."

It was Sunday again.

Ash sighed deeply, though he didn't seem worried at all.

"Well, I guess we have to go," he said with a tired tone.

"We don't have to do it if you don't feel comfortable," Lillie said.

"No, it's fine. As I said, I'm sure I'm the real one, therefore I have no problem discussing this, and I know the whole thing will be over in a few weeks anyway. I'm very keen on getting back here, and I haven't even left the house. Let's go."

On their way to the Pokemon School, Ash took the time to stare down at the flower patch with pride. He couldn't distinguish a single rose, which for him could only mean that all of them were straight and right on their place.

"Just stepping outside reminds me that people can't stop getting involved in other people's lives," Ash said. "I mean seriously, don't they have anything better to do, other than think and talk about our relationship?"

"You've made many friends here, and all of us are grateful. You have no idea of how many of us here in Alola are looking out for you. We just want to make sure you're safe and happy," Kiawe said.

"That's nice, but it isn't exactly what I'm talking about. Let's just say I can entertain myself well enough so that I don't have to look into other people's lives as a distraction."

"You're being a bit rude Ash," Lillie said. "Kiawe's right, people like Olivia really care about you, they deserve more credit."

"Fine. But there's a difference between talking about people to pass the time, and caring for people. Let me give you an example. Seeing as I care about you Lillie, I know for a fact that you have a piano lesson tomorrow. I can only assume that the movie you want to see doesn't interfere with that."

"Oh," Lillie looked down, "I was actually thinking of quitting my lessons altogether."

"What? No way! You're really good at it. And think of how you'll look when you play for people. A classy young woman with her back straight, her eyes closed and a soft smile on her face, gracefully demonstrating her expert musical abilities in front of an admiring crowd. Come on, that'll be amazing."

Lillie preferred not to speak further, her lips were rigidly shut as the three continued walking.

Arriving at the Pokemon School, on the sand-yellow field right in front of it, they encountered the rather habitual—though no less extraordinary—phenomenon which was two Ash Ketchum fighting each other. Upon closer inspection the nature of the scene became clear. It was that a smaller Ash with imp-like posture and the eyes of a madman, was dragging a significantly tubbier version of himself through the field. On instinct Kiawe ran to them and tried to separate them.

"Hey come on Ash! Let Ash go!" He grabbed the crazy Ash's head and pulled him away from his victim, but his crazy hands were glued to their target with almost inhuman strength.

"Never! He promised to train with me for a week," the crazy Ash said.

"That's not true," said the fat Ash, "I only promised to have a match with you."

"And you haven't fulfilled that promise! It has taken so freaking long! So now you're going to pay me back tenfold."

"But you're being too rough with him. You can only train with Ash if he is still alive!"

The fat Ash pretended to pass out, at which point the crazy one let go of him in fear. As soon as he was dropped on the ground, the fat Ash opened his eyes and ran away, prompting the crazy one to rush for him again; luckily Kiawe grabbed him from the back.

"Let me go! Come on, I only feel like I'm someone when I'm training! But the more I train, the more anxious I feel afterwards, and so I need to train even more. It's obvious that all I need to do is to spend the rest of my life training, every hour of every day, day and night, with no breaks. Stupid fat me, you owe me! Come back here now!"

"Please calm down Ash! Do you even have a pokemon on you? Where's your Pikachu?"

"Oh crap!" The crazy Ash smacked his forehead. He stopped focusing on his victim and started looking around for his pokemon, giving the fat Ash some time to relax.

"Yo, man, I almost bit it just now. Thanks for saving me dude," the fat Ash said to Kiawe, who gave him a thumbs up as he recovered his breath.

Lillie rushed to them, with her own Ash following closely behind her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, no worries, all thanks to Kiawe. Hey, how's it going Lillie, I still may not remember lots of important stuff, but I do remember you. I'm Mallow's Ash. I mean, I'm her boyfriend. Nice to see you here."

Mallow's Ash put his open hand forward. Lillie was shocked at seeing the confidence and the warmth effortlessly pouring out of this other Ash, but a second later she shook his hand. She was so startled that she had to look at him in the eyes which, admittedly, looked eerily similar to her own Ash's. But there was a source of calm within them that distinguished him as a completely different person. He looked quite different from her own Ash too, in both body and face. Right beneath his jaw there was an adorable collection of fat, which she instinctively desired to pinch. He had shiny plump cheeks that made him look like he was happy all the time. And he had longer hair, smooth, falling down, which almost covered his earlobes, leaving his ears pretty much hidden, giving him a carefree air.

After shaking hands he gave her a wide smile with mouth open, and with those eyes that had that distinct calm glowing brightly white. His teeth were also impeccably white, what's more, one from the upper row even glistened brightly when she looked at it directly. All of the sudden it seemed like his whole face was shining. But as she kept looking at him, it became obvious that there was something wrong, and then his chest began to shine. A white light burst out of him, right on his heart, and it suddenly grew bigger. Lillie screamed in terror.

"Hey, what's this?" the fat Ash looked down.

"I knew it," said Lillie's own Ash with pride.

Lillie couldn't believe that her own boyfriend had said that at a moment like that.

"Shut, up!" she shouted at him without restraint. Then she turned back to the shining Ash. "How do you feel?" she then said as she touched his chest.

"Don't worry Lillie, I'm sure everything's going to be alright," he replied with a jarring calm. "I know things are complicated, but I honestly think everyone is going to have an opportunity to be happy in the end, and we'll figure out how to call all of us to differentiate us. Actually you can go ahead and call me Ashy, so that you don't confuse me with your own Ash. It's okay, that's what most people call me these days. It's what Mallow used to call me, but now she has taken to calling me Hashy. Although she's the only one who can call me that. Hey, what's that green pokemon over there?"

Hashy pointed to his right. Lillie turned, but saw nothing.

"Do you see it?"

"I'm sorry Ash, I can't see anything."

"What? But it is right there. I swear I've seen it before. I'm pretty sure I know what it's called, or at least I used to. Man, I just relearned that fairy types are weak to poison yesterday. It has taken me a long time, but I'm getting there. Look at it, it's right there, it's floating."

Lillie looked to the right again. There was only sand, and a bunch of trees far away.

"I can't see it!" Lillie grabbed Hashy's wrist, and felt an energy vibrating inside of his skin that urged her to let go, but she didn't. "Don't worry Ash, I won't let you be taken away."

"You can just call me Ashy. It's okay, as I said Mallow calls me Hashy now."

Somebody or something turned off the light on Hashy's chest. All the white disappeared, he was still there. He rubbed his sternum like the whole thing had only been an itch.

"Man, that was strange," Hashy said. "Must've been Mallow's mushroom pasta reaching my stomach- Ouch!" He cried once he felt Lillie gripping his wrist tighter.

"What just happened!"

"I don't know," Kiawe said while running to their side. "Let's take him to the professor quick."

"You're right!"

"That won't be necessary." A calm voice came from the sky.

The four Island Guardians, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Fini, appeared above Hashy and made their descent, leaving him, along with Lillie and Kiawe, between the four of them; this so that the mythical beings could protect Hashy with all fronts covered.

"We have made our choice," Tapu Koko said calmly. "It is you, Hashy."

"No way man! That's awesome, what did I win?"

"Our guard."

"Right on dude. You're going to guard me from what, though? Is it that guy?" Hashy pointed at nothing, at least as far as Lillie was concerned. "Who is that?"

"The transtemporal," Tapu Koko said. "He comes for you on behalf of the one who wants you dead. All of you."

There was a blinding white light, which was in fact the physical reaction of Tapu Bulu's roar, who then made the ground tremble. He along with Tapu Lele went for their invisible enemy, who tried to stop their travel by covering them in a pink aura that caused a disrupting buzz within their skulls. Filled with discomfort, Tapu Bulu roared again and unleashed a vicious tackle in front of him. It was seemingly evaded. Next Tapu Lele used her sweet voice to call upon a psychic attack, but was quieted completely when a ball of green energy appeared out of thin air and hit her right in her sweet-looking face. A gust of wind condensed in front of the humans and made its violent travel towards Hashy. Tapu Fini stepped in and made the gust stop on its track through sheer force, however the wind became even more violent as it raged on its spot.

This prompted Tapu Koko to rise to the sky.

For a moment all nature around them was silenced, the leaves from the trees stopped rustling, unnaturally, all air stopped blowing. The atmosphere suddenly became so heavy it paralyzed everyone. Tapu Koko ended the tension with a powerful cry that expanded circularly until it reached the enemy, which became visible for just a second. It was a green fairy-like creature with insectoid wings, with big, perspicacious eyes, a dainty pair of antennae above them, and what looked like a cute sprout at the top of its head. Only Lillie was able to catch it before it disappeared again a second later.

The four guardians reunited in front of Hashy. Their alert eyes made it clear that the threat hadn't yet been neutralized. Within seconds the sky turned gray. Tapu Koko called upon a giant thunder that clashed with the sand, forming crystals that twisted on the ground from the overbearing temperature alone. The rest of the guardians joined in the attack, with sudden waves of water, and energy impulses that Lillie could feel very well on the inside of her ears. At the same time another storm was created on the ground. Attacks composed from the many elements of nature clashed, caused an earthquake and an explosion, and for a very swift moment, which lasted only a second, Lillie was able to feel the stare of Tapu Koko on her. She was instinctively led to his eyes, the guardian's heavy stare was indeed set directly on her. She could almost identify some kind of pity, which those eyes felt for her.

"We made our choice," Tapu Koko's voice resounded all over the field.

Then somebody began screaming behind Lillie.

She turned around and saw that her own Ash was being invaded by a white light that was pouring out of him, out of his mouth, out of his eyes and ears; out of his chest, and out of the tip of his fingers. Yet another person started screaming with a throat-ripping voice. Lana's Ash was maddeningly trying to tear his eyes out, while he too was covered in light. As he continued screaming endlessly, his mouth opened so wide, to such an unnatural degree, that a whole other Ash made out of light seemed to come out of him, making the same harrowing expression, all visible as a white silhouette.

Their agony lasted only a moment. Both Ashs burst into white particles that disintegrated almost instantly on their way to the ground.

* * *

Thirty minutes later Lillie was being descended into darkness using a state-of-the-art elevator designed by Faba, one of her mother's underlings. Lillie was practically a statue, and felt as heavy as one. Her lips were pressed tightly against each other and her eyes were swollen. She was basically moving downwards through a giant cylinder, the top of which was completely open, so she could look at the circular sky above her slowly leaving her behind to experience her sorrow all by herself. Also above her were her mother and her brother, who were in turn staring down at her in silence. Gladion was sad for her, it was obvious. But he agreed with Lusamine. She had a resolute look in her eyes. One member of her family had already been taken from her by an unknown enemy. She wasn't going to take any risks protecting the family she had left. And so, Lillie would have to spend as much time as it was needed for the situation to be resolved, at the hellish bottom of the otherwise aptly named Aether Paradise. Down there, it was hellish partially because it was underground, but also because of how lonely, claustrophobic, dark, and asphyxiating it felt. It was in fact Lillie's worst nightmare. It was a labyrinth with walls made of life, of trees and bushes and flowers, all filled with docile, tactless pokemon, none of which classified as socially capable creatures.

While investigating the threat, they would visit her—they said—and she'd have all her needs covered as well as plenty of distractions; her favorite movies to watch. It was for the best, and her time there would end as soon as her safety was guaranteed. But the truth was the one which Lillie dreaded the most. Once again, she was completely alone.

* * *

The very next day a boat reached Aether Paradise, and Ash and May, and Drew, came out of it in low spirits. Faba waited for them on the elevator, with his hand already on the operating board.

"If I don't have much time, why can't I spend the little I have left with you?" Ash asked May.

Her throat tightened before she could answer. She gulped to make sure her voice came out clear. "I promised I would protect you." She stared at him, he didn't stare back. "That's what I said I'd do. That's what I am doing."

"It's not a decision to make on your own."

"I know, but it's what you deserve Ash."

"Maybe it's what Ash deserves," he said, "but this isn't about him."

"Hey, listen." May took a step forward, her fingers moved to grasp him one last time.

Drew got in her way and gripped Ash's torso hard with his arms, trapping him in an effusive hug, pressing his green-haired head on his chest.

"I'm going to miss you Ash!" Drew cried with his eyes closed. "Don't ever forget that you deserve to be who you are. You helped me grow so much, our time together meant a lot to me, and I'll never forget it. To me you'll always be the one true Ash and-"

"Hey, Drew," May said.

"What?"

"Can I speak with Ash alone for a moment?"

"Eh, sure."

Slowly, Drew released Ash from his passionate hold. But once their mutual contact was extinguished, Drew couldn't contain himself and hugged him again, harder this time.

"Um, I'm really going to miss you too Drew," Ash said.

May grabbed the passionate boy's shoulder and yanked him away from Ash.

"Please give us a moment."

"Okay." Wiping some tears off of his face, Drew went back to the boat.

May stared at Drew with a tired pair of eyes until he was far enough away, then she sighed like she was done with him.

She grabbed both of Ash's naked hands with her own naked hands. This time, it was she who couldn't look at him in the eye.

"I've said all that I had to say."

"I know Ash. I know. You're not making this any easier for me. But I know for a fact that you'll be safe here."

"According to who? How could you possibly know that?"

May lifted her face and finally met his eyes.

"You'll just have to trust me."

She closed her eyes once more and threw her face forward, trusting blindly that her lips would be met by his. She kissed him deeply for quite sometime, disregarding Faba's presence completely.

Gladion was also close by. Without alerting anyone of his own presence, he stared attentively as May kissed Ash, who let himself be kissed, seeming not to care for his own body.

"About what we learned yesterday," May said, once she let go of his lips, "don't let it bother you too much. What people are saying are just ideas, we don't know anything for sure yet."

"It's fine, it's not like any of it matters anyway," Ash said.

"Please." May tightened the hold of her hands. "I do know one thing." She hesitated for a moment. "…My love for Ash is eternal, even if our physical connection isn't." She let go of him completely, and the loss of contact sent a wave of anxiety to attack Ash's chest. He suffered even more for her words.

Drained of all emotion, Ash got on the elevator.

"Goodbye," May said.

And when no other words came, the elevator started Ash's descent into the darkness.

They did share one last stare. But May couldn't withstand seeing Ash like that. It was he who was seeing himself being dragged away from her. It was he who was feeling it. And so she disappeared from his sight before they were even half-done descending.

"Excuse me, um, what should I call you?"

"I have no idea. Pick something, anything is fine."

"Alright. I guess it is quite practical to continue calling you Ash. After all, as of today you're the only Ash that remains in Alola—Oh! Except for Hashy. But that means right now no one is using the name Ash."

"Suit yourself."

"Anyway, Ash, do you mind if we stop by my office on the way down?" Faba said. "There is something I want you to give to Lillie."

"Sure."

"So, guess I'm the one that's supposed to welcome you here. Ash, welcome to the Sanctuary."

"What did you say?" Ash interrupted Faba with a violent voice.

Suddenly filled with terror, Faba dreaded the furious look that Ash gave him for a second. "It's what this place is called. It's a giant underground garden, made up with a diverse abundance of plants, as well as many different kinds of pokemon, most of which, granted, have never seen the natural light of day, but, we are regularly subjected to third-party reviews, and as it turns out all the pokemon here are completely content with their stoic lives."

"Okay."

"Sure, they may not be very friendly, but they are good for keeping company. Sure, it may be completely silent but, well, it works for me."

"And you say it's called the Sanctuary?"

"Yes. Lillie's father chose that name," Faba said, effectively killing the rest of the conversation. "…Needless to say that was a long time ago. He he."

* * *

In darkness, Lillie's sobs echoed. Her demure girl voice in one-second-long spasms was the only source of sound in that place. There was no wind to rustle the leaves from the trees and bushes, and there was no sign of a single pokemon even though the place was supposed to be littered with them. The level of solitude was such that it constantly made Lillie forget other people still existed.

The elevator was close by. When she heard it coming, Lillie forced herself to stop crying and wiped her eyes with hurrying strokes of her palms. Faba had promised that he'd bring Snowy back to her as soon as he could guarantee that it'd be safe. The situation was so delicate that all possibilities of danger had to be examined.

The elevator arrived and she came back to Lillie; her delicate companion made out of snow, at least appearance-wise. There they were, the elegant curls of the clearest blue at the top of her head, making her look like a sassy aristocrat. The perky pair of ears with deep blue inside them, the innocent sapphires that were her eyes, the four-legged white tenderness that was her body, and the fluffy tail of the same color bursting from her rear like a fan made out of cotton. There was her Snowy.

Lillie couldn't help but smile. She really needed a cuddle. But then she took the image in full, that was the person holding Snowy in the warm fold of his arms.

As soon as Snowy saw her, she jumped from Ash's arms and sprinted to Lillie. Her trainer received her with mechanic warmth. Lillie rubbed her face softly on the happy Snowy's fur, she had a source of comfort. But her expression showed that it wasn't all that effective.

"How cruel," Lillie said.

Ash came out of the elevator and took a look around. Some lights were on, but the place was so big that most of it still looked dark. The only distinguishable colors—other than the very bright Lillie—were green, from the plants, and black, from the darkness encompassing all the resulting spaces.

"How could they do this to me? My own people, those who say they care for me. How could they think this was a good idea?"

"Hey, Faba said there's nothing wrong with Snowy," Ash said.

"I already knew that, I kept telling them," Lillie replied. "But that doesn't matter anymore. Just go back and tell them this was a truly horrendous idea. How dare they do something this cruel? You can't just replace my Ash with another one I don't know. It just goes to show that they don't really care about me. You should go back to whatever girl they took you from."

"I'm sorry?" Ash raised an eyebrow. "The Aether Foundation is letting me stay here as a favor. May said this would be the safest place for me."

"Oh?" Lillie's eyes opened wide.

"Hi Lillie, I'm… May's Ash. Or at least I used to be. I guess we're trapped in here together until they find out what's going on. Or until I explode, whatever happens first."

A wave of discomfort assaulted Lillie. She gave Ash an ugly face, twitching her eye. Then she turned her back to him.

Ash already knew what had happened at the pokemon school, he was even aware of some things that Lillie hadn't heard yet. Remembering, he smacked his forehead in frustration.

"I'm sorry, I should've known better. I heard about what happened, I'm really sorry about… your Ash. I'll shut up forever now."

Lillie's shoulders felt particularly heavy right about then. She had no idea how she'd be able to spend what seemed like an eternity sharing a space with the clear image of her boyfriend, who was dead. She held Snowy firmly in her arms, and resumed sobbing.

The scene didn't change after an undetermined amount of time passed; there was no way for Ash to tell how much. It could've been an hour or just a few minutes. Either way, she didn't stop crying, so Ash decided to approach. Lillie was squatting, sobbing, and holding Snowy as close to her as it was possible while the pokemon licked her tears. Ash grabbed Lillie by the arm—a bit rough—and forced her to stand up and face him, giving her quite a shock.

"Maybe there is a way for me to help," he said. "I can't do much. But you don't have to be sad anymore. You could pretend that I am your Ash, I can easily become him, and you can do whatever you want. Here." With zero hesitation Ash threw himself at Lillie with a kiss that caught her lips perfectly. She felt both the sensitive skin and all the meat behind it. Her eyes opened wide. A second later she pushed him away and compacted his left cheek between his teeth and her open palm with a slap so hard Ash's whole head was tilted dramatically to the right. His brain was shaken.

"How could you! You cheeky man!"

"What was that?" Amid all the pulsating pain on his face, Ash couldn't help but make a smile. He even chuckled a little, grossing Lillie out even more.

"Don't you have any shame?"

"Why should I?" Ash said casually.

Indignant, Lillie veered her eyes off to all directions, looking for the right words to tell Ash off.

"I don't think there's anything inside of me," Ash continued. "So why should I pretend that there is shame? I should just stop, everything. After all, it seems I'm only pretending to be alive."

"What do you mean?" she asked with a vexed tone.

"Didn't you hear? Juniper's theory was proven to be wrong. Or at least, there's so much more to it that she hadn't noticed. Apparently, all the Ashs are being hunted by some invisible monster, and Juniper and Fennel were only able to identify the exact moments during which the attacks would take place. What's been proven to be false, however, is that there could be some kind of original Ash energy that needs to regularize. There is no Ash magically pulling the strings, and the real Ash didn't reveal himself to anyone. There is no real Ash in this Earth. That is, at least as far as I know. But the new idea, what apparently has been decided—not even by us, but by pokemon much more powerful than we could've ever imagined—is that the one Ash that's left in the end, gets to be the real one. That is, if one of them gets to survive. Just when I was having a nice time with May. I was learning, and striving for something. I didn't care about the amount of time I had left. And I was having a lot of fun with her too. We'd kiss all the time, anywhere, in front of anyone. It wasn't a big deal."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Ash said, fully convinced.

"Well, you're wrong," Lillie said. "There are few deals bigger than a kiss. I can probably count them with one hand alone."

"Come on. Are you going to tell me that there aren't times when you wish somebody would just grab you and kiss you? It's just a kiss, kisses are awesome, what's the big problem?"

"If you don't know already, you'd never understand."

"I definitely don't know." Ash put his hands behind his head and looked up. "I'm sorry, I won't do that again."

"I know. I won't ever let you near me again."

"Don't you think you're being a bit harsh?"

"Yes. It's what you deserve."

"If you say so. I'm in no position to tell you what I deserve. As I said, I don't think there's anything in me. Actually, I wonder why I still have a voice. That said, there's something that's been bugging me since I came here and I can't stop thinking about it."

Ash waited for Lillie to ask him, but she remained silent.

"If your mom threw you down here because she thinks you might be in danger, why would she allow me to hide in here too, considering I'm the monster's main target?"

"Easy. That's because my mom thinks Juniper is completely wrong. And she doesn't care about Tapu Koko's words either. According to her, this is the work of an Ultra Beast."

"An Ultra Beast? I don't know how that could be the case."

"I feel the same way, but apparently there have been constant bursts of energy, of the kind that comes from the appearance of Ultra Wormholes, all over the region recently. However no alien creatures have been identified yet. None of that matters though. Because I saw the monster, the so-called transtemporal that killed Ash. My… boyfriend." A hateful exhalation came out of Lillie's mouth. Still in her arms, Snowy looked up at her in fear. "This is all Tapu Koko's fault. He interfered with the process that Juniper identified correctly, so at least I know she wasn't completely wrong. It was Hashy's turn to be hunted by that thing, but Tapu Koko decided to save him. My boyfriend wasn't supposed to disappear."

"If you saw the monster why didn't you tell your mom?"

"You think I didn't?" Furious, Lillie turned to Ash. Her face was a truly terrifying sight. Snowy closed her eyes and hid her face.

"I'm sorry," Ash said coyly.

"I told them it was a green pokemon, it was right there. Hashy saw it too. But apparently there's no proof of its presence. Somehow, with all of the expensive technology that they have they couldn't detect it. And of course they don't believe me. They even suggested I was seeing things because I was in shock." Lillie held Snowy tight. "There are so many people up there. And they can't ever agree on a single thing, even if people's lives are at stake. Honestly, I'd rather just stay here with Snowy forever. I'd be as alone up there as I am here anyway."

A pair of high-heels clashing with the ground echoed through the dark. The steps got progressively louder until Lusamine appeared from within the shadows. She had almost the exact face as Lillie, the same shining blonde hair. But her eyes were those of a predator ready to strike, and her considerable height, added to the effortless cold that emanated from her at all times, made her much more imposing than her daughter.

"Dinner is ready," she said. "Follow me." Emotionless, she turned to Ash, and the resulting expression —which was her natural resting face—was not inviting in the least. "Both of you."

They had no choice but to obey. Both of them followed her all the way to a table with plenty of food already on it. Lillie purposefully waited for Ash to sit down, and when he did she took the effort to sit as far away from him as possible. Then Lusamine sat on the chair next to Ash, on the opposite side to her daughter.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I'm causing," Ash said. "You don't have to be so nice to me."

"Nonsense. It is the Aether Foundation's job to solve this problem," Lusamine said. "After all, this whole situation started in Alola, so it's obvious where the root of the problem lays, and where it can be solved. Not in Kalos, not in Sinnoh—definitely not in Unova—but here in Alola."

"Right," Ash said, "well, I'm rooting for you, to catch that… Ultra Beast."

Lusamine's demeanor changed completely. She was infused with a dose of happiness that brightened her eyes and made her smile. Reaching for Ash, she hugged him without restraint.

"You best believe we will Ash!" she said. "It's great that you agree with my theory! Obviously that is what's happening. Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you it's something else. And don't worry about a thing, leave it all to me and my team. Oh Ash, I know exactly what you're going through. I've been through it myself, and I'm not about to let any cursed Ultra Beast take anyone away from their family. Never again."

While Lusamine continued hugging Ash with vigor, Lillie shot him with a pair of eyes seething with anger. She knew that Ash didn't care for Lusamine's Ultra Beast theory—he said he thought it didn't make sense—and he heard perfectly well what Lillie had said, about the monster that she saw. The one that should've made Hashy explode. Ash simply didn't care, about anything it seemed. All he wanted by saying that was to please Lusamine.

Lillie couldn't stop thinking about Ash, about how he was a shameless jerk. She looked like a somber statue with her face down, but her internal rage got so intense that she felt like her head was going to explode.

She couldn't focus on anything else, she couldn't remember anything else that happened during dinner, even after they were done eating, except how mad she was.

Much later, Lillie decided to take a calming walk through the green labyrinth. She wanted to stop looking at both Ash and her mom. But after only a few steps among the leaves and the flowers she remembered how much she had grown to hate that place. There, with the endless passageways shrouded in darkness, the near absolute silence, and the lack of movement that made it seemed like the whole place was trapped in a vacuum, even solitude had become an unwanted companion.

There were moments of unbearable silence where Lillie thought she could hear a voice coming from the outside, telling her to escape as soon as possible. The weirdest thing about it was that Lillie could tell that the voice wasn't hers. What's more, she could almost swear she'd heard it before. She couldn't help but think she would end up going crazy soon enough.

Just when she sensed that all energy would be sucked out of her and she would drop unconscious on the ground, some branches twitched beneath her. Someone was near, judging by all the leaves rustling, interrupting the dour atmosphere.

"I'm not in the mood Ash," Lillie said. The tone of her voice made it clear that she wasn't kidding. "Go bother someone else. Why don't you go whisper sweet nothings in my mom's ear or something? Anything, just leave me alone."

"Thank you for telling me that Ash is indeed here. Just kidding. I already knew it." It was distinctly a little girl's voice, but dead cold, and nasal. Every word it spoke had the same clinically bored tone, as if speaking wasn't something it wished to do, but had to.

"Who's there?"

"Don't worry. Even though you saw me, I'm not going to destroy you. It is unfortunate that you have to be involved in this."

"Leave me alone, just go away."

"I will, soon. Sorry for being a nuisance, all I wanted to do with the revealing of myself to you was to advise you to keep quiet about me. Although I guess what you decide to do is inconsequential, since no one believes you. I don't know why you're mad about that. You should be grateful, it's the only reason you're still alive"

"Shut up!" Lillie shouted, and her voice echoed through the place. "I told you to go away."

There was more noise beneath her. Lillie looked down at the shaking bush, she thought to herself that there was nothing there. And because of that there was nothing to be afraid of. Frowning angrily, she knelt down and brushed the leaves aside with violence. As if it had been born from the motion of her arm, the little green fairy came out of the bush and started floating in front of her. It was the same as before, an adorable little body attached to a big head with bigger eyes, a perky pair of antennae coming out of its forehead, and something akin to a sprout coming out of the top of its head. Having it in front of her, Lillie noticed that one of its eyes was half-closed and swollen, one of the insectoid wings on its back was a little broken, and its body was covered in bruises. The cuteness of the creature is what prompted Lillie to feel sorry for its state.

"It was you, you took my Ash away," Lillie said with scorn. Her face changed as soon as she remembered what Celebi had done.

"I did you a favor. The one you had seemed not to care for you in the least. They even gave you an upgrade, which at least is willing to kiss you. All thanks to us."

"How dare you!"

"I'm sorry, it's been a stressful time for me. If it makes you feel any better, there was nothing you could've done about it."

"How can you say that? He had as much right to live as anyone else."

"According to my master, that's not true. Before you ask, I won't tell you who he is, but I will tell you why he's doing this. He's undoing a mistake. Someone else's mistake. Please don't bother asking me anything else. It is unfortunate, but you should give up now. Trust me, it will be much better for you. Because there's nothing you can do, nothing you can say, to change my master's plan. Very soon I will destroy the Ash that you have hidden here. I only have to wait in order to dissipate some of the attention that has been drawn towards me. If it were up to my master, all of them would've been destroyed already. You won't be able to help any of them, but this can be good for you. The excruciating wait for an unavoidable suffering will teach you that it is much better to do nothing and just accept this. Soon you'll find out that you don't have to feel bad anymore."

Celebi disappeared as soon as he finished speaking.

Lillie had tears coming out of her eyes. She ran to Ash.

She didn't bother slowing down. To stop herself she simply crashed into him and held him close.

"Ash, I saw the monster, it's here!"

"What?"

"It is, I swear. You have to leave, you have to run away, now!"

Ash's mouth was wide open, as were his eyes. He shook his head and struggled to get a word out.

"Where would I go? This is supposed to be the safest place for me. May said so, she was absolutely certain of it."

"I'm sorry about all I said to you, I'll help you however I can," Lillie said, desperately gripping Ash's shirt with her fist.

"It's okay," Ash said calmly.

Lillie couldn't believe it.

"We all die at some point."

For the first time, Lillie saw Ash clearly. Ever since he arrived to her he had been drowning in sadness.

"Ash, I'm so sorry you have to go through this, you didn't do anything to deserve it."

"…Maybe I did," Ash said, after a brief moment of deep thought.

"What are you saying? I can help you, now that the thing is here we can tell my mom. There must be some way to stop it."

"No, you're not listening to me, I think I'm remembering something," Ash said. "It happened here in Alola, I was under a lot of stress, I needed to do something. Maybe your mom was…" A light appeared in Ash's eyes. For a moment he lost his ability to speak, he looked like his mind had been taken over. Lillie grabbed him by the collar and shook him. In a different situation, that would've been pleasant for Ash. Instead the light disappeared, and he forgot what he was thinking.

"Ash! Trust me, maybe, maybe there is something to be done. For now let's try to be positive and see if we can relax for just a bit. Maybe we could drink some tea, or eat something sweet to clear our minds and get ready."

"Don't worry Lillie," Ash said as himself again. "I learned a lot during my time in Hoenn. Regardless of what happens, there will always be something that'll bother me. Think about it, even if this weren't happening to me, I wouldn't stop being in constant danger. Thanks to Norman, I've obtained the tools to defeat any sorrow, any sadness, and any fear. I even think I understand it better now. If there is nothing inside of me, there is absolutely no reason why I should be scared."

"Oh." After hearing this, Lillie released Ash.

She didn't know what else to say to him, so the labyrinth went back to being completely silent.

* * *

"I have not registered any sort of irregular activity recently," Faba said, as he looked at the screen on his hand.

"That can't be! I saw it with my own eyes. Mom," Lillie looked at Lusamine, "you have to believe me."

"I checked too," Lusamine said. "There is no sign of anomalous energy."

"That's because it wasn't an Ultra Beast mom! Or at least, it didn't come from an Ultra Wormhole."

"Then in that case it's not an Ultra Beast," Faba said with his eyes closed.

"Shut up!" Lillie shouted. "Mom, I know what I saw."

Lusamine remained silent.

"She has been under a lot of stress."

"Don't you dare start with that Faba!" Lillie raised her fist. "You have to believe me."

"I believe you," Lusamine said.

"So you'll get us out of here?"

"Absolutely not! This is the safest place for you."

Lillie's eyes almost melted from the disappointment augmented by impotence. She looked at her brother standing next to her mother with his arms crossed.

"You believe me, right Gladion?"

"If you say you saw it, then I believe you," Gladion said.

"So you'll help me convince Mom to help us escape?"

"…This is the best place to watch over you. We need to keep you safe now more than ever."

Lillie's shoulders fell. Her last bit of willpower came out of her with a cold exhalation.

Once she was left alone with Snowy in her arms, Celebi popped up from within the bushes, showing her its injured eye, and a sly, but still a little too melancholic smile on its face, as if gently telling her to give up.

* * *

(Actual title of this chapter: Alolan Princess Trapped In Underground Garden Part 1)


	13. Alolan Princess Trapped Part 2

The passage of time became unrecognizable. Lillie became unable to see people's faces clearly. Her mother's and her brother's voices sounded like underwater mumbles within her skull. The same applied for everyone except Snowy, and Ash. He seemed calmer than ever before. It was as if the life outside of his body didn't affect him. He ate like he had always eaten, relentlessly and with reckless abandon. Whenever she looked at him, the brown in his eyes was shining brightly and full of life.

One night when the despair seemed too vivid to withstand it, and Lillie was desperate to get rid of the strangely familiar voice that urged her to escape, she went to lay in Ash's bed. Quietly, she got under the covers, put her arm around him from behind, and stuck her head to his back.

Ash was awoken from his pleasant sleep. When he noticed what was happening, at first he didn't believe it, but as he kept feeling her he couldn't deny that she was actually there.

"Hey, you finally decided to use me however you want?"

"Don't say that!" Lillie mumbled without taking her face off of his back. With her right arm she was holding his stomach tight. She then grabbed his hand, led it to his heart, and started pinching the outer side of his index finger, hard. "Does this not hurt?"

Ash screamed loudly. "Yes! Aaahhhh! Let go! Aaahhhh, it really hurts! Why would you do that?"

Lillie went back to holding his stomach. "I wanted to show you that you are here with me. Don't deny it."

"Believe it or not, sometimes it is good to deny yourself. That's especially true when you have a doubt about something. When that happens, you get anxious, and both your body and your mind start aching for an answer. The problem is that the answers that are the easiest to obtain have nothing to do with the truth. They only serve to help you forget that you're anxious and scared. And the root of the problem is fear. When you're afraid, all you want is to get rid of that fear. That becomes the most important part of your life, what moves you. You don't care that the answers you get aren't true. You only care that they mask your fear. But as you can sense that you're acting out of fear—you don't quite know it, but your mind and body can feel it—you will not stop being anxious and scared. Instead you will get worse, all they way until you go insane."

"Hey Ash."

"Yes?"

"I came here to be comforted."

"I see. And is it working?"

"No."

"Oh, that sucks. Anyway, as I was saying, it's a good thing to deny yourself- Aaahh!"

Lillie pinched Ash's finger again.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I'll stop. I know I'm being annoying, I'm not blind. At least not completely. It's just, I don't know what else to say to you."

"I'm sorry too," Lillie said. "I try to keep myself in check. But the truth is that I have quite a temper."

"Yeah, after spending some time alone with you that's become clear. You can't exactly hide it. But I don't mind."

In silence, Lillie blushed.

"Can't you tell me something else?" she said. "Something that you like? Anything."

"Um, well I like your mom's food."

"She doesn't make it. My mom doesn't cook, Wicke does."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she has always cooked for us. She actually helped raising me. Sometimes I call her mom by accident, but she doesn't have any problem with it. Tell me something else."

"I have nothing right now," Ash said.

"Yes you do, you've always had."

"I guess you're right. I've always wanted to be a Pokemon Master. But the truth is that, as far as humans go, it is a very lonely life. I can't stop being a human, so I can't stop being lonely and needing people. I guess it's not such a bad thing that I won't last for very long."

"I told you to stop saying that."

"But it's true, you really don't need to be someone. You have to kill your ego to stop suffering, May's dad told me that, and he's very smart. You have to let go of your opinions, you basically have to die in order to stop being afraid."

"So what, you just die?"

"No, you deny only the bad parts, and leave only the good things. Have the courage to keep looking for the answers you seek, and don't be afraid of not finding them. That's what I was going to say before, it's the truth."

"But how do you decide what's good and what's bad?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. Why would I know that? I guess it depends. You have to think a lot. Norman says everyone already knows it, everyone knows better. But it seems easier to ignore and to try and forget. Personally, I prefer to trust my gut. For example, I said that I don't mind that you have a temper, because even though you're shy and quiet most of the time, I can tell that you're a very intense person, and you want someone who's just as intense as you, and that's a good thing. It's actually the main reason why I started liking you a while back."

In silence, Lillie blushed again, redder this time.

Ash didn't notice his revealing blunder.

"Ash."

"What is it?"

"Can you look at me?"

Slowly but surely, Ash turned himself to face Lillie. She kept her arm around him, and when he finally looked at her, she touched the tender tip of his nose.

"Are you not in front of me?" she said.

"I guess I am."

"You can't deny it, so stop pretending that Ash Ketchum isn't laying next to me. You deserve to treat yourself better."

"Look at you," Celebi said. "It was about time. Although this is nothing but a refractory certainty caused by inertia. What other possible outcome can be obtained by leaving two teenagers alone for two months?"

Ash and Lillie threw the covers off of them and dragged themselves away from Celebi.

Lillie was holding Ash with her life, with her back pressed to the headboard of the bed. He was clinging to her chest.

"Don't worry, I won't strike here just yet. Do you know why my presence can't ever be detected? That's because if I say so—rather, when I say so—I was never here, even though I am here right now. Later, I will never have been here at all. Or was it earlier? Such is the privilege of seeing the passage of time the same way you humans look at both sides of a street before crossing it."

"Every single one of Ash deserves to live. Just leave us alone, nobody even wants you here," Lillie said.

"As I said, you should stop that," Celebi said. "I really wish I could make you understand that thinking that way won't get you anywhere. Did you know? Merely a hundred years ago, people didn't live their lives looking for the right person to love. They didn't get married to the one who made them feel—even for just a second—like they could spend the rest of their lives with that person. Merely a hundred years ago, people got married without even knowing each other. A normal person couldn't decide who to marry, instead that was decided for them. Honestly, I think you humans had it better in the past, because at least, if the love between the two developed, at least they actually learned how to love, because they had to. These days, as people can just go off and marry whoever they want whenever they want however they want and for as long as they want, people cannot learn how to love. Sure, in the past, if the love didn't develop, then you could have it much, much, much, much, much worse. But back then, at least you were forced to find a way to stop being blind to love. Right now, people can and do remain ignorant forever. In actuality, as you, nameless-piece-of-meat-that-I will-destroy-soon-enough, said earlier, in a surprisingly wise manner, that ignorance is not known, but it is felt instinctively. And it drives you humans insane. Hey, why don't I go ahead and end that for both of you?"

Lillie threw a pillow at Celebi. It hit right on its injured eye. The scream that the little pokemon released made it clear how much it hurt, even making Celebi lose its robotic tone for a moment. It disappeared afterwards.

"That's it, we're out of here right now!" Lillie was suddenly holding Ash's head tight to her chest.

For a moment Ash couldn't help but enjoy it, but then he felt abysmally guilty for it and tried to release himself. However, Lillie's grip was just too strong.

"Your mom will never let you leave," he mumbled. "But, if I tell her what we saw, and what Celebi told us, maybe she'll throw me away and you can be saved."

Lillie grabbed Ash's head and led his eyes to her own. With some pain on his neck, Ash opted to simply let her handle him.

"Didn't I tell you that you deserved better? I thought you finally agreed with me."

"I do. But you don't have to pay for my problem."

Lillie looked at Ash dead in the eye. "And what if I want to? Celebi already killed you four times-"

"I think it's five. He also killed the one that was supposed to travel with Sophocles. They were supposed to go around tasting the best dishes that the World had to offer."

"That's right! Five times! I'm not going to let him touch another one of you, except maybe Hashy. But he isn't here. And I guess it isn't his fault, and he deserves the same chance as anyone else. That just means we need to stop Celebi now! If we can't escape, and if no one believes us, at least we can fight him. I have Snowy and you have Pikachu!"

"Actually I don't. Faba said that they needed to make sure it would be safe for him to be down here, so he's being kept somewhere above us for now."

"Dammit!" Lillie shouted as she pressed Ash's cheeks together, making his face into a chubby mush.

"We don't have enough power to defeat Celebi," he mumbled again.

"So what, there must be something we can do!"

"That's what I was going to say." Ash grabbed Lillie's hands and moved them away, taking some time to breathe. "First, Celebi's hurt, so we won't have a better chance against him. And second, this place is filled with pokemon, who could help us defeat him."

Without hesitation, Lillie grabbed Ash's hand, jumped off of the bed, dragging him along with her, and ran straight into the green labyrinth shrouded in darkness.

"Let's go! This is our best chance to do something. If the people above us wake up they might try to stop us."

They turned on all the lights they could, which revealed just how beautiful and diverse that place really was. Many more colors became visible in the form of flowers and fruits, as dots filling all the green with red, and yellow, and purple and blue. However, the place was so big that many parts of it were still left completely in the dark, and not a single pokemon could be seen.

Before letting go of each other's hands, Ash and Lillie shared a decisive look and a nod of the head. Then they separated and began the search.

It didn't take long for them to find myriads of little pokemon hiding quietly within the walls made out of nature. All they needed to do was to look closer and with care.

On top of a tree, next to a berry and shrouded in shadows, was an aipom hugging a branch almost desperately, without moving, with her eyes wet and full of fear. Likewise many grubbin were carefully hidden inside the bushes. Every once in a while a group of Alolan rattata would hop from side to side through the labyrinth's path. And there was even a mudbray resting right next to a small pond, inside of which a few bruxish happened to be swimming.

As she walked, marveling at all the creatures that she'd never noticed before, Lillie noticed a shadow standing next to the trunk of a tall tree. It was simply to big to be Celebi, but the ominous nature of such a sight still made her hesitant to approach. Nevertheless she knew it wasn't the time to be scared, so she continued walking, all the way until she was able to notice the shape of passimian, who was staring at her with caution in his eyes.

"Hello, Passimian, we need your help," Lillie said.

Sensing her shyness, Lillie cleared her throat and spoke with a much louder tone, making sure that every pokemon around could hear her. "Everyone, Ash and I are in danger. Celebi is going to attack us very soon. We have to stop him, and we could really use your help."

When she finished, the absolute silence returned. No pokemon spoke, they didn't even move.

"What do you think you're doing?" Celebi said. "See, everyone here knows what's best for them, but you still refuse to accept it. I told you why you needed to be quiet."

"Leave her out of this!" Ash said as he grabbed Lillie by the shoulder and moved her behind him. "This is between you and me, times fourteen! She did nothing to deserve this."

"Unfortunately you are not the one to assess her deserving condition. Besides, I gave her a chance. All that she needed to do in order to be spared was to keep her mouth closed and to stop trying."

"Trying to do what?"

"Anything. Oh well, time to go."

As Celebi said this, the passimian behind it screamed with a commanding voice. Small pokemon began crawling towards Celebi, even Aipom appeared from within the leaves of a tree.

"Sad. You'd think pokemon would make the smarter choice. At the very least, I hope you understand that I'm not doing this because I want to."

It was almost imperceptible, but all the pokemon on the ground, even aipom, stopped moving completely, like time had stopped for them.

"See," Celebi said. "Sometimes you just have to be quiet and let it happen. Trust me."

There was a small charjabug on the ground next to Ash. Even though it couldn't move, it started buzzing.

"What is he saying?" Lillie said.

"The little guy really wants to help," Ash replied.

"But how?"

"Are you serious about this charjabug?"

After hearing Ash's question, the small charjabug freed himself from the restraint that Celebi had put upon him, using an electric discharge all over his body. He crawled all the way to Ash, and when the two were right in front of each other the charjabug nodded decisively with the front of his body.

"Thanks buddy."

Ash picked him up in one hand, carefully aimed at Celebi, and threw the bug pokemon at him.

"Uh, what's this?" The charjabug's flying tackle hit Celebi on its injured eye. "Ah! Master, you can hurt me, but please I beg only with my forlorn voice that you do it gently!"

"What was that? Why would Celebi say that?" Lillie said.

"I have no idea," Ash replied, just as confused as her.

"Good try," Celebi said with a hand over its eye. Then with the soft waving of its free hand, it sent the charjabug along with the rest of the small pokemon on the ground flying far away. "Remember when I said I wasn't doing this because I wanted to? Well that's over."

The passimian behind it jumped and tackled Celebi to the ground, and kept it pinned by pressing its big green head with his giant hand, making Celebi feel the pressure of his skull between the two hard surfaces.

"Master!" Celebi cried. "I sincerely hope you're happy to know that I can feel every single one of your strokes!"

"Why is it saying that?" Lillie said, completely baffled.

The passimian screamed at the two of them as he kept Celebi pinned to the ground, and as the rest of the pokemon, including the mudbray and some rattata, arrived to help passimian keeping their aggressor contained.

"I have no idea," Ash said. "But there's no time for that. The pokemon are telling us to escape."

"We can't leave them like this! This is our problem, not theirs," Lillie said. At which point the passimian, with his mouth wide open, and showing his sharp fangs, shouted louder than ever before.

The fiendish scream startled Lillie so much that she just had to open her eyes wide and direct them right at the pokemon. Passimian was looking at her with fury in his eyes.

She then looked at all the surrounding pokemon, all of the sudden, they were just as angry as him.

All of the sudden, none of them looked like the same pokemon that had lived in the labyrinth for all of that time. They seemed awake and ready to act as their instincts dictated. They even looked scary, which made Lillie think that it wasn't a good idea to defy their passionate wishes. So she grabbed Ash's hand and made a break for it.

"Thank you so much everyone!"

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I don't know. This place is huge, I've never strayed too far from the exit, but I don't want to go there."

"I know. Let's just go deeper into the labyrinth. Maybe Celebi won't be able to find us back there."

"But I don't know if anyone else will be able to find us either."

"Do you have a better idea?"

Without answering Lillie accelerated, and together with Ash she ran straight into the darkness.

Soon the path grew thinner, and the vegetation became too dense that they pretty much had to run straight into it, hurting themselves in the process. They stepped in thorns that cut their ankles, thick branches from the trees hurt their shoulders and sides as they ran through them, and the leaves brushed against their faces with violence, but they kept running.

And they didn't stop, until they found a big tree with a small cave-like opening beneath its roots. They pretty much fell inside, and then, in darkness, scrambled to get off of each other and to sit however they could.

"Sorry," Ash said. "Maybe we should've run towards your mom instead."

"They would've thought we're crazy and sent us back in here. Nothing would've changed."

"I guess you're right."

"I know I'm right. No, you know what?" Lillie tried to stand up, but as she couldn't see anything she stepped on a rock the wrong way and twisted her ankle. Frowning painfully she screamed and went down backwards, taking the hit on her rear.

"Be careful!" Ash whispered with passion.

"I'm fine," Lillie said angrily. "As I was saying, before you rudely interrupted me. I don't even know if I'm right, and that's the point. At the very least I try to keep an open mind. The people above us, my mom, and everyone else who just nods and agrees with her without saying a word of their own, they, they, they act like children! They're all a bunch of children! I'm convinced that if they were looking for anything other than an Ultra Beast, somehow they would've been able to detect Celebi. But my mom wants to be right all the time, and so the threat absolutely has to have come out of an Ultra Wormhole! Because she just wants it to be that way, because she, just like everyone else up there, is a freaking baby. Let me tell you Ash, children, children deserve to believe that things are simple, that their parents are heroes and that they're always right. But that has to stop when they become adults. In fact, that change of perspective is what being an adult really is. When you grow up you realize that things can't be simple anymore, and you can't be right about everything all the time. Being an adult is losing the luxuries that children should have."

"I know," Ash said.

"What?"

"It's the same as what I was saying before. People are afraid. And so they react by getting angry and trying to eliminate whatever reminds them that they're afraid."

"Yeah. Yeah! That's right, they're babies, a bunch of babies who can't stop screaming that they want to be right all the time. And the way adult babies cry is a million times worse than the way regular babies cry. Seriously, you've never seen my mom angry."

"Well, um, it's like I was saying. According to Norman, everyone is afraid, and what we're all afraid of, truly, is of being alone. I guess I'd never noticed that because I'd never been alone, and I'd always known this."

"Wow, you're very lucky," Lillie said with a sincere smile. Even though neither of them could see it, her face was completely red, and it was both from anger, and sudden embarrassment.

"Yeah, I think I'm lucky. But that doesn't mean I'm not afraid of being alone. The only ones who aren't afraid are those who pretend they don't exist."

"Well, maybe you were right after all. Maybe all of this time I should've been pretending that I don't exist."

"No!" Ash stood up. In doing so, he too, twisted his ankle and fell on his butt in the dark.

"Ash, are you okay?"

"Yeah, but you aren't. Pretending that you don't exist isn't the answer. That only means you're in the process of driving yourself insane."

"But you were the one who said that people should deny themselves."

"Yeah, but there's a right way to do it. I think, I think I finally understand what Norman was trying to tell me. There's a part of you that's always going to be driven by fear. I think that's what you should ignore, so that you can see the other part of yourself. The part that knows what you would really like to do if you weren't so afraid of doing it. The part that matters. The part that knows you still need company, but also knows what to do about it. I guess most people won't be able to ignore their fear. You can live a whole life, and even experience happiness, while being driven by fear. I think that's what happens with most people. But they, we, deserve better. I mean, if I were actually alive, that's what I think I'd deserve."

All of the sudden, through tears, Lillie smiled. "You keep saying that you don't have anything inside you, and that you aren't really alive. Aren't you just afraid?"

"…You caught me. As I said, it's hard not to be afraid. People go through a lot of awful things in their lives. There are many scary things in the world."

Lillie lost her smile again. "I guess I'm just afraid too."

"And why shouldn't you be? Look at what you're going through. You were thrown in here just after going through a terrible thing. And I should've told you this a long time ago, I'm sorry, about what happened, to… me. Were you close to him, I mean, to me?"

"Close to my Ash?" Lillie said as she looked up. There was nothing to see but darkness. "Not really. I tried my hardest to pretend that we were close, and I really wanted to believe that he would get better about dealing with me, and that we'd become really close one day. But he never even kissed me. Sometimes I would get the urge to grab him by the cheeks and shout at him, and say: Aren't you afraid that I might fall in love with Kiawe? That he or someone else could take me far away from you? And a part of me thinks- All of me, thinks that he wouldn't care. He wouldn't have cared at all. Not really."

Lillie began breathing heavily. She grabbed her knees and moved them closer to her chest, and her breathing only worsened from there.

Their eyes had adjusted well enough so that the tenuous light available allowed Ash to see Lillie quite clearly having a panic attack. He tried to touch her shoulder but the mere thought of going through with it signaled that he'd have a panic attack too.

So instead, he pushed her, quite hard enough for Lillie to need to put her hand on the ground just to keep her balance.

"So, when this is over," he said. "Would you like to go train with me? I know a really good place in Petalburg City. I think you'd like it. Actually, it's similar to here, but it feels much, much better back there."

Ash's comment brought Lillie out of the worst of it and she felt grateful. She wiped her face with her hand.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. And for the record, if I had been in my place—if I had been in his place—I would've put my arm around your waist, pulled you towards me, made you mine, and I wouldn't have let you go."

"What about May?"

"I love her, but she belongs only to herself. I guess I would like someone just for myself. And I don't think I can wait for her to be ready. I mean, clearly."

"I'm ready," Lillie said.

"You cheeky man," Celebi said.

Ash and Lillie shuddered in chiaroscuro.

"Please, don't let me stop you. These are your last moments after all. I'm sure you'd prefer for them to be meaningful. That sounded quite lovely and meaningful and such. But, I've observed humans through all of time, so trust me on this: words alone are meaningless."

There was a pause. The couple decided to nestle closely while Celebi continued floating in front of them.

"Aren't you going to do anything to us?" Ash said, prompting Lillie to elbow him in the ribs.

"Do you want me to?" A bit detached, Celebi asked.

"Of course not. And it seems like you don't want to either."

"What I want doesn't matter. What matters is what my master wants."

"But what about what you want to do. You can decide, and you could spare us if you wanted to."

"Thankfully I don't have to make that choice, in fact I don't have to make any choice."

"But you can," Lillie said, "you can literally do whatever you please, you could go on and live your life without exploding people."

"No, I can't."

"I don't know Lillie," Ash said. "Celebi said it heard us. That means he heard everything we've talked about, but it sure sounds like it is denying itself, and not in the right way."

"So what?" Celebi said, with a hint of passion in its high-pitched voice. "So what if I'm nothing? My master, he is everything. He's greatness and I am part of him. That's all I'll ever need."

"It sounds like your master, whoever he is, is only using you to do his dirty work for him."

"He sounds like a terrible person," Lillie said.

"Don't ever insult my master! Who cares what he makes me do, I don't mind if he spends the rest of eternity humiliating me. He can use me as he pleases!"

"Celebi, are you okay?"

"Be quiet! I wanted to give you a chance, and yet you are here mocking me. You're lucky that I don't mind your insults towards me."

"You should, you deserve to treat yourself better," Ash said.

"Shut up! Don't you want my mercy? I've decided to let you live. I'm putting myself in great danger just to keep you two lovebirds alive."

"Really?" Lillie said with enthusiasm.

"But! My offer comes at a great price. I'll let the two of you live, but you'll have to come with me. I've found a small hole in time that my master probably won't find. You can hide there. However, if you agree to do this, you will have to give up your names, and your voices. And you'll have to do everything I say for the rest of your lives."

"Absolutely not!" Lillie cried. "You can't do this to Ash, to any of him!"

"This offer is only for the two of you. The rest of him will of course have to continue exploding mysteriously."

"Either way, he doesn't deserve that!"

"And you don't deserve that either Lillie," Ash said.

"Then I'll explode you right now," Celebi said.

"Hey wait a minute," Ash said,

"What now? You should just accept my offer. Don't you want to become part of greatness?"

"No," Lillie said promptly. "If that's what greatness is, I would rather die."

Celebi sighed and looked down. Both Ash's and Lillie's chests began shining brightly. They hugged each other and felt the same dreadful energy vibrating between them.

"Believe it or not," Celebi said, "this one hurts me the most of all."

Their bodies began shining white, from the sole of their feet to the last strand of their hair. Lillie looked at the tip of her fingers disintegrating.

"At least you know that in your last moments you weren't alone," Ash said to her.

Tears flowed from Lillie's eyes, floating and disintegrating just as they poured out of her.

"The same goes for you," she replied.

Celebi too began to shine. Only instead of white, its body was suddenly covered in yellow light. Painful yellow light, coming from Pikachu's thunder. Once again the white light was suddenly turned off from Ash and Lillie's bodies.

They were still there.

Pikachu attacked again and Celebi fell on the ground. Only for just a second, however. It stood up on its feet, now unable to fly, and with a violent stroke of the only arm it could move, made Pikachu explode in an instant.

"NOOOO!" Ash cried his heart out. "How could you do it?"

"I told you," Celebi said. All pretense had been lost on it. Its tone was melancholy infused with pain. "I told you, but you refused to listen."

Lillie held dearly on to an Ash full of grief.

Behind Celebi, what was left of Pikachu, his white particles, fell on the ground.

They did not disappear.

Instead they headed toward Celebi, and stuck themselves to it limiting all movement. Celebi was covered in white light, and for a moment Ash was able to see his lifelong friend as a white silhouette, giving him one last chance to escape.

"Huh," Ash laughed. "My love for you is eternal buddy. See you soon." Grabbing Lillie's hand, Ash stood up and ran away.

* * *

Once more they were running through the vegetation and getting hurt, but they didn't care at all. On their way to uncertainty, Ash sensed how he suddenly stepped in mud, and as he kept going his feet began to submerge deeper and deeper until water reached his waist. In front of him was a dense green wall, which seemed impenetrable, and reached much higher and wider than his eyes could see. He tried to dive in but behind him Lillie pulled from his collar.

"I need to find out what's ahead!" he said.

Ash submerged and noticed an underwater passage ahead of him. It was extremely short, so it was easily passable, and it seemed like a good escape route.

"There's a way through here, let's go."

"I can't swim!" Lillie said.

"What? Fine, I'll help you cross."

"Wait, no."

She tried to release herself from him, but he didn't let her. Instead Ash dragged her deeper with him.

Lillie felt the ground beneath her move further and further down as the water kept rising, until her feet were completely separate from it and she struggled to keep her head out. She had no choice but to cling on to Ash.

"Hey! You're going to drown us both like that."

"I told you I didn't know how to swim! You were the one who made me come here!"

"I'm trying to save us both."

"I know!"

Ash was able to drag Lillie all the way to a protruding rock with which she was able to stay afloat. Right below was the underwater tunnel.

"You're going to have to submerge with me. I'll help you cross."

"I told you, I don't know how to swim. Just leave me here."

"There's no way I'll do that. It's really short, so it'll be really easy, you don't even have swim, just take a few steps and it'll be over. Trust me, I'll be with you the whole time."

"Okay. Please just give me a moment."

"There's no time. Pikachu gave us this chance. We can't let it go to waste. Are you ready?"

Lillie only had one second to answer. But she did it like she knew she needed to, firmly, with a resolute frown on her face.

The two of them submerged.

Lillie kept her eyes closed. She felt like she was inside a cocoon, both in immediate danger and weirdly safe at the same time. Once again she was completely silent. There wasn't anyone there, Ash could've left her behind for all she knew.

Acting desperately against her instincts, Lillie opened her eyes and saw nothing. There was nothing there, she couldn't move and she couldn't breathe. The overwhelming panic was about to make her open her lungs when Ash pulled her out of the water.

On the other side of the tunnel, the two of them crawled until they were out of the water and now laying on the grass. There were four giant walls covered in vines all around them. They were trapped in there. Curiously, some light came from the very top, and at the very least they were able to look at each other clearly.

"What is this place?" Ash said.

"I have no idea, it seems like a nightmare. It probably has something to do with the Ultra Beasts that have been in here before. Just being near one of them sucks the natural essence out of you. People have a good reason to be scared of them."

Very quickly they noticed the merciless cold. It was so bad that they could see their condensed breathing.

Both Ash and Lillie started shaking.

"Well, at least we won't be killed," Lillie said with her trembling voice. "We'll die. There's a difference."

Next to her Ash started taking off all of his clothes.

"Ahhh! What are you doing?"

"I refuse to die. We've been through so much already. At this point giving up isn't something we deserve, it would be a crime against ourselves." Soon all that remained on Ash was his wet underwear. "Dang it! This is freezing too. I apologize for this. Also, follow my lead."

"No."

"Come on, I've been in this exact situation a bunch of times already. Your wet clothes multiply the rate at which your body freezes to death."

"Good! I'm already dying because of my eyes. Right now I'd rather it happened quicker."

"You don't even have to look at me."

Unable to withstand the embarrassment, Lillie threw her open palm at Ash. She missed, and all that resulted was the loud swing of her arm.

"Let's go Lillie, just take off your clothes, it will be good for you. It's not well-lit in here so not much will be seen. You can trust me, getting naked in the wilderness has saved me more than once."

"Ash! You shut your mouth this instant! Oh dear, please let me die! I can't believe you just said that!"

Naked, Ash grabbed Lillie's shoulders. "It's an easy decision. Right now, shame is what's literally killing you. Do you want to live or not?"

In silence, Lillie identified the exact moment in which her mind cleared completely. She knew what she had to do.

"Here, I'll help you," Ash said.

Flailing her arms with rage, Lillie smacked Ash's hands away. She swung her right palm repeatedly, hitting right where she wanted every single time.

"Ow! Ow! Okay, okay! I'm sorry. Geez, take this seriously."

"Excuse me? I can take this just as seriously as you without losing my integrity," Lillie said as she disrobed. "You on the other hand never had any to begin with. You made that very clear when we first met."

"Hey! I think I have plenty of integrity. Maybe we just have different opinions about it."

"Maybe we have different opinions!" she repeated mockingly. "Close your eyes! And don't even think about turning towards me!"

"We have to think of what to do next."

"I got it. We lay here with out eyes closed and wait for a miracle. You dragged me all the way here. Now keep your eyes shut and away from me!"

"That's what I'm doing."

"Yeah well keep it up. Seriously! Right now I wish I could deny that you're Ash Ketchum, but that's exactly what's naked in front of me. Jerk!"

"Isn't that right? To be honest I feel pretty much like my old self right now. Who knew that mortally dangerous cold, as well as a time-traveling assassin coming to get me, are exactly what I needed to finally wake up! We've got this Lillie, I'm sure of it. This isn't over, for any of us! We can get through anything together."

"Ash."

"Yes!"

"Lay down. Be quiet. Don't even think about turning. Wait for a miracle to save us. And wish with all your heart that whoever comes to our rescue has a change of clothes for us. Because if that doesn't happen and we don't die from this, I will kill you."

* * *

Time passed as they laid naked on the grass next to each other.

"I can tell you're looking at me."

"Yes. I'm making sure that _you_ aren't looking at me."

"That doesn't make sense," Ash said.

"Can you blame me? You were the one who made me do this," Lillie said.

"I'm sorry for trying to save your life. There's something else we could do that would really help, but I know you wouldn't like it so I won't even suggest it."

"What is it?"

"It's nothing."

"Just tell me Ash."

"If we hugged, we could keep some of our body warmth."

"Not interested!"

"I knew it."

From then on, both Ash and Lillie felt every second that passed with the same horrifying dread. The ruthless cold kept creeping in, and they could sense each other vividly close, dying from the same kinds of embarrassment and hypothermia.

"Do you think anyone other than Celebi could find us in time?"

"I can't see how that could happen," Lillie said. "And I don't know who would actually save us from this."

"It's really cold," Ash said, holding his arms together tightly.

In silence, just like she did before, Lillie crawled right next to him and embraced him from behind.

Ash tried to turn around.

"Wait," Lillie said.

Ignoring her, still with his eyes closed, Ash rolled over and put his arms around Lillie, and held her tight.

"This way you'll actually get some of the warmth," Ash said. "I don't care if you hate me, I totally understand if you do, and I won't ask you to forgive me if you don't want to. You can even tell me to leave you alone right now and I will. You can push me off and I'll stay away. But if you don't say anything, I won't move."

Lillie said nothing.

"Do you want me to move?"

"No," Lillie rushed to say, like she wanted to get through with saying it as soon as she could. "I won't move either."

Their embrace definitely mitigated some of the cold, but it couldn't neutralize it completely. After a while, Lillie couldn't help but open her eyes. Ash had his eyes shut, and a serious frown on his face like he was focusing intensely.

"You can open your eyes," she said.

"It's okay, if Celebi knew where we are he would've found us by now. So all we need to worry about is a better way to survive the cold."

"I know, but that's not what I meant. Open them."

"Why?"

"Mine are open."

"What?" Ash shouted. "Well, okay then."

He still hesitated for quite a while before he actually opened his eyes, but he did so slowly and softly, as if his eyelids would break if he did it too fast.

Lillie's tender face was staring up at him. She had the softest smile on her lips, her skin was even whiter than before; it was almost blue.

"It's okay," she said. "I told you I won't move, just like I told you I'm ready. Thank you Ash."

"I haven't saved you yet. But don't worry, you're not going anywhere, and I'm sure not going anywhere without you either."

"I know, but that's not what I'm thankful for."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm thankful, because if we're going to go, at least I know I wasn't alone when it happened."

"I already told you," Ash said, pulling her even closer, "You're not going anywhere."

"Give me a kiss."

Ash obeyed.

The contact of his lips with hers was a most exhilarating, most exciting experience, almost miraculous. Lillie let the last wall between her and Ash break down, and she simply had to continue that moment of oneness with him by making Ash's lips, along with the rest of his body currently holding on to hers, her property, with a kiss that she intended to continue for an eternity.

They had their eyes closed for all the wonderful time that they kissed. They only stopped when they felt a tingling sensation which made them open their eyes, although they continued kissing. Ash and Lillie discovered that a flashlight was directed at them. Lillie immediately released Ash's lips; she then hugged him tighter. Following the light all the way to the source well above them, they found Gladion with his face like a red little dot.

Below, they got their hands off of each other.

"Hey! You cheeky man! Get away from her!" shouted Lillie's brother.

Lillie made the entirety of her arms as big as she could and tried to cover herself with them.

"Why do the both of you say that?" Ash said.

"No, Gladion, you don't understand!" Lillie shouted.

"Oh, I understand perfectly well. That man down there isn't the Ash Ketchum I knew. He's nothing but a shameless womanizer."

"Hey!" Lillie stood up. All of the cold had suddenly left her. She was embarrassed, excited, and suddenly furious all at the same time. "I understand that you're worried and I appreciate that, but don't you dare say that about him! He is the Ash you knew and much, much more! Don't ever call him something that he isn't! Especially when I can hear it!"

"I don't know what he told you Lillie, but he's lying to you. I saw him kiss May right before getting on the elevator."

"I already knew about that!"

"What?" Gladion's voice came out as a corrosive screech. "What do you mean you knew? What the hell is going on! Man! We were all so worried about you! I've been looking for you for so long, and for all of that time, _this_, is what you were doing?"

Gladion's words were a very effective poison for Lillie's heart.

"You have no idea of what she's been through Gladion," Ash said.

"I don't want to hear anything that comes out of your mouth, I'll deal with you later."

"This is all your fault, all of you. If you had believed Lillie from the beginning, we wouldn't have had to run away like this."

"How dare you! I will rip you apart."

Lillie quietly knelt down and closed her eyes.

A soothing voice reached her ears, and only hers.

"If you believe that I can save the two of you, follow my voice and I'll try my best. I've been trying to reach you for so long, and you have ignored me. You weren't going crazy, it was me. There are many like me who care for you. Like them, I owe you. The two of you."

It was a deep, eerily familiar voice which, upon hearing its tone so firmly full of a very sincere kind of hope, revitalized Lillie and helped her standing up. It was the same voice she had been hearing, the one that made her think she was going insane.

"Please Gladion, stop!" Lillie said. "You have to believe me for once. Mom is wrong about this, Ash and I are being hunted. And if we hadn't taken our clothes off we would've died."

"Yeah right," Gladion said.

"It's incredibly cold down here," Ash said.

"That can't be. It's pretty warm up here where I'm standing."

Before he could continue not believing his sister, the rock on which Gladion was standing cracked whole. He was able to move to another rock before the first one burst into a million pieces that fell on the ground. From it came Celebi, limping wearily.

"See! That's who has been chasing us Gladion, please tell me that you can see it!"

"Of course he can see me," Celebi said. "I can't hide myself any longer. But I don't need to be hidden in order to finish what I came here to do. I don't care if I drop dead in a second, I will do and say what my master orders me to."

High above them, Gladion called out his Silvally, who jumped down on instinct, settling itself between the naked pair and Celebi, stopping the transtemporal on its way to finish its job.

"That's a Celebi!" Gladion said. Right afterwards he produced a green disk and held it between his fingers with style, then threw it directly at Silvally who, as it absorbed the disk, changed from a neutral gray color to the same green as the disk.

"I know enough about it to know its weakness! Yeah! Make sure to watch this carefully cheeky man, you're next! Silvally, use Multi-attack, bug type!"

"Oh, well," Celebi said, right after Silvally roared and started its frantic way towards it. "Thankfully, I don't have to pretend I have a say in this. Come to me master, make me yours."

"Why would Celebi say that?" Ash shouted, right as Silvally annihilated Celebi out of view.

Glaring down in satisfaction, Gladion turned his eyes glowing with a cold red rage towards Ash.

"Now it's your turn, impostor."

"What? Why?" Lillie said. "We need to get out of here, Celebi's master is still trying to kill Ash."

"I'm sorry Lillie, even after this, there's no way we can let you out of here yet."

"Why not?"

"You're still in danger, we need to keep you safe from the Ultra Beast which is still at large."

"Ultra Beast? Gladion, you saw Celebi! It was right in front of you. Mom is wrong, and now you know it! Open your eyes, please. Please, she doesn't know everything. Don't pretend that you're doing this because you want to protect me, you're just going along with her because it's easier for you."

"Hey! I do want to protect you!"

"Well then let us go. All you've been doing is what mom tells you to do. That's how it's always been."

"That's not true at all! She doesn't want me to wear these awesome clothes, but I do it anyway." Gladion pridefully pointed at his black and red attire, which was filled with stylish rips all over it. "Now you two need to come with me, we need to keep a closer eye on you, and give you some clothes."

Lillie heard the deep voice again. "This is your chance, what will you do? I cannot come in to help, but if you are able to escape, I am waiting. If what you need is guidance, here it is."

Lillie held Ash dearly as Silvally approached.

In the air, just for Lillie's eyes, many little stars appeared illuminating a path, which Lillie just knew led all the way to the elevator.

"We're almost there Ash, just hold on a little bit more," she said. Then, holding Ash's hand firmly, she ran through the gravel that Celebi's entrance had left.

This time neither of them were wearing shoes, so the path was easily a hundred times more harmful to their feet, as well as the rest of their battered bodies. It was because they knew that they had gone through so much already that they couldn't give up, in spite of all the pain they suffered simply by taking a step. The little stars kept appearing in front of Lillie as the two continued running naked through the labyrinth, all the way until the elevator came into view; along with Lusamine and Faba. They were standing on a nearby platform above them. She was holding a teary-eyed Snowy firm in her arms.

"Don't you dare take another step," she said. "What do you think you're doing young lady?"

"What we should've done a long time ago. Give her to me."

"I'm sorry Lillie, but I cannot do that. I'll let Snowy go back to you once this situation is settled and you stop acting like a child. Well, more like a teenager; still, wildly immature. I know this isn't pleasant dear, but you need to wait until we make sure you aren't in danger anymore. Something happened in Kanto a while back, and we think it's directly linked to the energy of an Ultra Wormhole that appeared nearby twenty years ago."

"Oh, mom. Please," Lillie said. "Give Snowy to me and let us leave in peace. I'm asking nicely."

"I'm sorry dear, but you're in no position to ask me that."

Behind them, Gladion and Silvally approached.

Lillie held Ash close to her and noticed that his hand was bleeding.

"Don't worry Ash, I'll save you and I'll take care of this. I'm taking Snowy with me and we're getting out of here."

"I know we will," Ash replied.

"Oh yeah, and how are you going to do that?" Gladion said, right before he was hit in the face with a charjabug. He knelt down and buried his face in his hands. "OW!" he cried with the same screeching voice. A group of grubbin, as well as Mudbray and Aipom, settled themselves between Silvally and the naked pair. Myriads of rattata overwhelmed Lusamine and made her scream. Snowy took the opportunity to jump from her hold and she fell straight into Lillie's arms, helping her cover a little. Together they ran to the elevator and Lillie punched the button to go up. In the midst of chaos and screams, they started ascending. Faba nervously tried to interfere, but Passimian got on his way. The pokemon with fury in his eyes menacingly stood straight, in two legs, and showed him his fangs. Faba ran the other way.

Heading up, Ash and Lillie hugged with Snowy between them. The sun graced their naked skin covered in bruises.

They thought they had been saved, but only for a moment. The elevator stopped halfway through, and started going down again.

"I'm sorry Lillie," On the ground, Lusamine said. "Truly. But I can't let you do this. I hope you understand, if not now, someday."

A group of Aether Foundation members had appeared to control the situation. All the pokemon were shouting freely, while Lusamine, with Faba and Gladion by her side, watched as the elevator slowly returned to them.

A mighty roar from the sky stopped everyone and everything. All of the sudden the light from the sky was covered, and then Solgaleo came through, majestically, radiant as the sun above it. It got on the elevator.

"Nebby?" Ash and Lillie said at the same time.

"Somebody has been looking out for you Ash," Solgaleo said, "There's no way I could leave the two of you like this, especially after you did a great job keeping each other safe. Don't worry, the four guardians aren't the only ones in Alola who can and wish to keep Ash safe. When Celebi's master comes, I'll be the one to guard you. Both of you. Let's go."

Ash, Lillie and Snowy, naked and triumphant, hopped on Solgaleo's back.

Ash turned behind him. "See, I told you. We can get through anything."

"Oh, shut up," Lillie replied. Then she put her arms around him.

The people below them could only watch with their mouths wide open as Solgaleo took to the sky with Ash and Lillie, and disappeared with the rays from the sun.


End file.
